The grandmother of an Aldershot singer competing in the BBC’s Last Choir Standing has urged the town’s people to get behind her as the live finals get under way on Saturday.

Joan Mason, whose 18-year-old granddaughter Georgia Mason sings in the Academy of Contemporary Music’s (ACM) Gospel Choir, has called on local people to pick up the phone and vote for the group who will compete against six other choirs for a place in the grand final this Saturday.

Last week (August 2) the 28-strong choir, led by ACM vocal coach Mark De Lisser, was named Stand Out Choir of the heat stage of the contest.

Mrs Mason, of Alma Close, Aldershot, said the whole family was delighted when Georgia broke the news the choir had entered the competition earlier this year.

She said: “We are really proud of her. The choir has worked so hard and their performance last week was absolutely perfect. They didn’t even have to come back on Sunday to compete again.

The 68-year-old said singing runs in the family with herself and her husband keen singers and Mrs Mason’s father Cyril Lake who was the lead tenor of the Farnham Operatic Society and the Aldershot and Farnham Operatic Society.

She said: “Georgia has sung ever since she was child. She still remembers the first song her grandfather John taught her, ‘Frog Went A Courtin’ while she was sitting on his knee at two years old.

“Georgia is an Aldershot girl through and through. Now all we need is for everyone in Aldershot to pick up the phone and vote for them to win.”

The ACM Gospel Choir was one of six chosen from some 1,000 entries into the contest.

The group, which has been run for more than three years as an extra-curricular activity, is currently made up of students studying a broad spectrum of courses. Members hail from destinations across the world including Bermuda, Portugal and Uganda as well as Hampshire and Surrey.

Georgia told the News she was surprised the choir had made it this far in the contest. 

The former Ash Manor pupil, of Friend Avenue, said: “Hearing the other choirs and how amazing they were through the competition I honestly didn’t think we had what it took to go through.

“Last week I was thinking we were going out. I was so shocked when we were named the Stand Out Choir.

“It wasn’t until I stepped back and watched us back on television I realised that we were actually really good.”

But the teenager, who started singing in the choir two years ago when she began studying contemporary music at ACM in Guildford, did not always have ambitions to sing.

As a child, her passion was dancing and it was her father, John Mason, who sings with the Paul Weller tribute band Wellalive, who was keen for her to make use of her voice.

She said: “When I was growing up my dad was always heavily into music.

“I did enjoy singing but I was more into dancing although he was always trying to push me in the right direction to sing.”

At 13-years-old, Georgia auditioned for one of eight free places on a Saturday course at ACM but was turned down after coming ninth.

Her journey into music began just three weeks later when she was offered a place after someone dropped out.

Although she enjoyed learning about pop music, dancing and singing during the weekly lessons, after leaving school at the age of 16 Georgia decided she wanted to train as a hairdresser.

She said: “I didn’t want to be a singer but then I entered and came second in a competition to get half price off of a course at ACM.

“My parents told me to just give it a try and if I didn’t like it to go into hairdressing but as it turned out I loved it.”

After hearing great things about the ACM choir, Georgia decided to check it out for herself and was instantly impressed.

She said: “The choir is fantastic. We are all like a big family now.

“We get on really well which helps as we’ve gone from practising once a week for two hours to every night for several.

“I am very excited about this Saturday and if we can get just a few more people from Aldershot to show their support and vote for us that would be brilliant.”

The first knockout show of Last Choir Standing presented by Myleene Klass and Nick Knowles will broadcast on August 9 at 7pm on BBC1.