A COVENTRY University graduate is going head-to-head with Justin Bieber in the battle for Christmas No. 1.
Bethany Hemming, who graduated in 2013 with a degree in occupational therapy, is part of the NHS choir which is hoping to claim chart-topping honours with its mash-up cover of Coldplay’s Fix You and Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water.
And with days to go until the Christmas charts are announced on Christmas Day, the choir are just a few thousand sales shy of knocking Canadian pop-star Bieber off the top spot.
The 25-year-old, who now works at a community children’s centre for Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, spends her precious free time singing for the trust’s choir at wards and festivals around the country.
The Lewisham and Greenwich NHS choir was first seen on Gareth Malone’s BBC2 show Sing While You Work, where they were narrowly beaten in the final.
But since then, the choir – which is made up entirely of NHS nurses, doctors, physios, midwives, porters, administrators and more – has gone from strength to strength.
All proceeds from the choir’s song are being shared between a number of healthcare charities – including Carers UK and Mind – and a Twitter campaign (#NHS4XmasNo1) encouraging people to buy it has attracted support from the likes of Stephen Fry, Sadie Frost and Chris Evans.
Visit www.nhsno1.com for more information on the choir and to buy the charity single.
