At 5.30pm on Saturday, when one of the England’s showpiece sporting events was due to kick off, the choir sang their own virtual 2020 version to raise money for a good cause.
Fans from across the country joined together to sing the traditional anthem and raise funds for the families of NHS staff, who have tragically lost their lives during the pandemic.
Wolves’ representative was Peter, whose father attended the club’s 1949 FA Cup final success over Leicester City just three days after Peter was born. Now, he’s representing Wolves as part of the FA Cup Fan Choir, and is honoured to do so.
He said: “The idea of getting together for a virtual rendition of Abide With Me during this coronavirus lockdown period was the idea of David Gilhooley, the Liverpool fan, who was himself a Hillsborough survivor.
“Although many fans chose not to keep in touch after the 2015 final, for those that did, the FA Cup Fans Choir had already taken on a life of its own. We’d been to the Leicester fans’ wedding, a party in Scunthorpe and sang, by invitation, to the Christmas lights switching-on at Totton.
“While there, we provided karaoke entertainment at the Titanic pub, ending the night after last orders with, you guessed it, Abide With Me. The captain of the pub loved us and looks forward to us returning – we remain in touch with him.”
Having been raised around the corner from Molineux, in the shadow of St Peter’s Church, Peter has supported Wolves his whole life and won the 2015 competition to sing Abide With Me at Wembley five years ago.
He fondly recalls the process, which concluded with him taking to the national stadium pitch before Arsenal faced Aston Villa in the 2015 final.
“I had a phone call from the BBC whilst on holiday in Wales informing that I’d won it for Wolves. I was absolutely delighted. On the day we were treated like celebrities and were spoken to by Aled Jones and given a pre-match team talk before the game by Roy Hodgson.
“The thrill of emerging from the tunnel to the noise of 90,000 Arsenal and Villa supporters, feeling the heat of the pyrotechnics on the pitch and the accompanying acrobats, was astonishing.”
Back in 2015, all 64 clubs in the FA Cup third round were represented in the FA Fans Choir on the Wembley pitch, and on Saturday they joined forces once again, with the help of Alfie Boe and Aled Jones.
Wolves supporters can back the worthy cause, which has smashed its initial target of £1,000, by clicking here.
