BBC English Regions Take It To The Bridge for BBC Music Day
BBC Music has today announced the full details of its ambitious plans to Take It To The Bridge on Friday 3 June.
Published: 23 May 2016
Performances the length and breadth of the country will bring England’s best-known landmarks to life and bring us closer to our audiences through music.
BBC Local Radio will host unique musical collaborations on over 40 bridges across the UK and Channel Islands – from large iconic structures like Tower Bridge in London and the Tees Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough, to smaller, quirkier crossings such as Bishop Bridge in Norwich and Tadcaster Bridge in Yorkshire.
There will be performances from well-known musical favourites, including Jack Savoretti, BBC Music Introducing acts and local community groups and choirs. BBC Local Radio stations will be broadcasting live from the bridges throughout the day, bringing communities together through their love of music.
David Holdsworth, Controller of BBC English Regions says: “Take It To The Bridge allows local radio and regional television teams to work with their audiences to create this spectacular shared celebration of music. Performances the length and breadth of the country will bring England’s best-known landmarks to life, and bring us closer to our audiences through music.”
The musical extravaganza on The Transporter Bridge, Middlesbrough, which spans The Tees, will see a host of musical performances on the bridge throughout the day from 7am until 7pm. Each hour, musicians will count through the decades from the 1910s through to the present day with a spectacular finale scheduled to bring the day to a close. The day’s events will be covered by BBC Tees and Look North.
On The Humber Bridge, the All For One choir will take part in a special performance of the popular song Caravan Of Love. Their version of the song made famous by the Housemartins will also be played out on BBC Radio Humberside.
One of the most iconic structures in London, Tower Bridge, will host a special performance by well-known singer Jack Savoretti. He will be singing on a glass floor which spans the bridge’s high-level walkways 42 metres above the River Thames. The performance will be featured on BBC Radio London.
The old Severn Bridge carries the M48 from Bristol into Wales and will be the location for a unique dawn performance by singer Amy Wadge, who’ll be standing on the top of the bridge. Amy has written a special song for the occasion which celebrates the bridge and the communities which live on either side of it.
She will be accompanied by over 50 gospel singers and Only Men Aloud, the well-known male voice choir from Wales. The event will be covered by BBC Radio Bristol, BBC Radio Gloucester and BBC Wales, who will simulcast the performance on the morning.
After flooding at Christmas, concerns for public safety led to the closure of Tadcaster Bridge, and on the evening of 29 December the bridge partially collapsed. Without use of the bridge, traffic can cross the river only via the A64 and requires a long detour. On BBC Music Day, local soprano Rebecca Newman will be singing her own special rendition of Art and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water on the temporary pedestrian bridge which is in place while Tadcaster Bridge is restored. She recorded and released the song to raise money for those affected by the floods. The performance will be covered on BBC Radio York.
Bishop Bridge in Norwich will be the location for a very special Take It To The Bridge performance, which will feature a specially formed choir from Bishopbridge House, a charity which works with homeless people and those with addiction issues. The choir has been meeting for several weeks with a choir leader, and their story is being featured on BBC Look East. Their performance will form an important part of BBC Radio Norfolk’s Breakfast Show on BBC Music Day.
Take It To The Bridge has been jointly commissioned by BBC English Regions and BBC Outreach, using music work to bring us closer to audiences identified as harder to reach or underserved. BBC Newcastle will be featuring a performance on Prebends Bridge in Durham by Durham Voices of Recovery, a choir of 20 made up from people who've suffered with addiction problems. Meanwhile, singers from a wide range of communities and backgrounds from Manchester will come together as Voice Assembly perform a very special rendition of Put A Little Love In Your Heart – the song made famous by Annie Lennox and Al Green.
BBC Music Day is a UK-wide annual celebration of music that aims to unite communities across different generations.
Notes to Editors
For a full list of bridges taking part go to the BBC Music Day Website:
bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4Fqrhgp9VfDWYnTNN5SYvCC/take-it-to-the-bridge
BBC English Regions offers the best in public service journalism – providing essential information, connecting communities and holding public figures to account.
BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility brings the BBC closer to its audiences - particularly those audiences we have identified as harder to reach - with face-to-face activity, community support and staff volunteering. More info can be found here: bbc.co.uk/responsibility/outreach
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