A KEIGHLEY singing group is baffled why more people will not join them.

The Keighley Can Sing! ensemble has now launched a recruiting drive for their monthly workshops in Dalton Lane.

They want people from across the ‘Keighley Valley’ area – which stretches from Stockbridge to Ingrow – to take part in the informal sessions.

The workshops are led by singing expert Emma Baylin at the Shared Harmonies organisation at the Jam On Top Studios on the top floor of a former factory.

They are being supported by the Keighley Big Local regeneration programme, which funds community-led activities in the area.

Big Local coordinator Shaun O’Hare said: “There is a regular singing core of people the workshops serve, and they cannot understand why more residents are not involved.”

Mr O’Hare said his own Big Local volunteers were so impressed that they awarded a grant to enable Emma to keep the workshops affordable to everyone and encourage participation.

Keighley Can Sing! also carried out a survey to find out why existing members enjoyed themselves so much, so the results could be publicised around Keighley Valley neighbourhoods.

One said they always left the workshops happier than when they arrived, while others praised the exhilarating atmosphere and “extremely uplifting” activities.

Another member said: "It is a friendly environment and I have always left with a smile and a song in my heart."

Members stressed that people did not have to be great singers to join, and everyone was welcome to the feelgood sessions where they would not be pressured to achieve.

Shared Harmonies was established in 2013 as a social enterprise where the profits were reinvested in the local community.

Emma said: “I developed Shared Harmonies from my passions of building community, people and singing.

“I strongly believe that singing is everyone’s birth right and that everyone can do it – despite what they may have been told or led to believe!

“I aim to share the health and well-being benefits of singing through accessible community singing groups, workshops and team building sessions.”

Emma is a registered teacher of the National Voice Practitioners Network.

Sessions are held on the last Sunday of every month from 2pm to 4pm at Jam Top Studios, Chesham Street, off Dalton Lane will stop.

Visit sharedharmonies.co.uk for further information. A video of the group singing can be seen at facebook.com/keighleybiglocal201.

Big Local is a lottery-funded scheme bringing £1 million pounds of regeneration cash over 10 years to neighbourhoods including Stockbridge, Worth Village, Parkwood, Hainworth Wood and Wesley Place.