BBC Radio presents Congregation of the Year award

Staff and students from Abbots Bromley School for Girls were at BBC Radio Stoke's studios in Hanley this week to receive an engraved cut crystal cross and a cheque for £500 after being named the BBC Radio Stoke / Diocese of Lichfield Congregation of the Year in the Songs from the Aisles competition.

|PIC1|Representatives from Rising Brook Baptist Church and Berkswich Methodist Church, both in Stafford; and Ipstones Methodist Church, in the Staffordshire Moorlands, also received engraved cut crystal crosses as runners up.

Songs from the Aisles has been running for three years and is open to those congregations who participate in Radio Stoke's weekly broadcast act of worship.

Each year a panel of judges select the four best recordings and those congregations are invited to perform at a sing-off which is broadcast over the four-weeks in August.

Votes, split between a panel of judges and the station's listeners decide the overall winner.

A second prize, awarded by the judges, goes to the best junior entry. This year that went to a choir specially created by Staffordshire Youth Service for an event in Lichfield Cathedral. They received £250 and the Staffordshire Youth Kouncil will decide how that prize money will be spent.

Lamont Howie, faith producer and weekend breakfast presenter for Radio Stoke, said: "Songs from the Aisles highlights the best of our regions congregational voices. BBC Radio Stoke receives so many positive comments about our regular broadcast church services that it's an absolute delight to hear the best competing for our annual prize.

"The talented choir from Abbots Bromley School shone brightly on the evening we recorded our Final, emphasising what the competition is about - to sing the praises of the Lord and to share that joy with a wider audience. Congratulations."

Gavin Drake, director of communications for the Diocese of Lichfield, which sponsors the award, said: "The quality of singing from Abbots Bromley's girls was extremely high and it is not surprise that they won. This justifies our decision to put them into the final rather than restrict them to the junior category."

Abbots Bromley School was founded by the Revd Nathaniel Woodard to "provide education based on sound principle and sound knowledge, firmly grounded in the Christian faith".

The school's chapel is "pivotal in school life" and the girls have sung for BBC Radio Four's Daily Service and have even sung at a Papal Mass in the Vatican. They will receive a crystal cross and a cheque for £500.

The school's director of music, Mr Colin Walker, said: "Singing is at the very heart of so much of life at Abbots Bromley School for Girls both in chapel and beyond; it is very exciting that the commitment and enthusiasm of the girls has been recognised in this way. We are proud and honoured recipients of the Songs from the Aisles award for 2007."