On Tuesday evenings the stairwell of Ferry Road House fills with singing. The choir that rehearses there has never had a hall and does not want one: the concrete and the long drop between the landings give it an echo no church could match.
It started with a few residents singing on the stairs while the lift was broken, and they kept going after it was fixed. Now the choir has members from all over town, a conductor who used to teach music at the secondary school, and a repertoire that runs from sea shanties to Bach.
Coming round to it
Not every neighbour was pleased at first. Rehearsals now finish by nine, the choir sings one song on request for any resident who asks, and the residents' association agreed to a trial that has quietly become permanent. 'I used to close the door,' says one neighbour from the upper floors. 'Now I leave it open.'
The top landing
Each section has its own landing. The sopranos take the lowest, where the sound is brightest, and the bass section always takes the top landing, where the voices gather and roll back down. Nobody remembers deciding it; it is simply where the basses go.
The choir takes new singers at any time, with no audition. Turn up on a Tuesday, wear soft shoes and stand wherever there is room.