With 74 days left until Christmas, a surprise contender has entered the race to become Christmas Number One this year. 

Can you guess which choir have reformed to relaunch ‘Grandma’ in a bid for a Christmas number one single? You would have to be of a certain age to know the answer, but who can forget those toothless grins and angelic young faces.

Almost 30 years after they last topped the charts, St Winifred’s School Choir have reunited to celebrate the 6th year of a Big Knit charity campaign in aid of Age Concern and Help the Aged.  Now mostly in their 30’s, the choir will be reformed as The innocent Big Knit Choir  to re record a 2009 version of their chart topping song ‘There’s No One Quite Like Grandma’.

The song, loved by some and mocked by others, was written by Gordon Lorenz and was the UK’s Christmas number one from December 27 1980 to January 3 1981.  The Choir knocked music legend John Lennon off the number one spot for two weeks, but the song will be re-released this November as the Big Knit charity single.

All monies raised from the single and innocent hatted products will go towards this year’s target of raising over £250,000 for Age Concern and Help the Aged.

Ten of the original choir members, who now include a police detective, an HR consultant and a mortgage advisor, will make up The innocent Big Knit Choir including:

Lisa Hughes, aged 38
Eileen Brown, aged 40
Nicola Williams, aged 38
Catherine Bailey, aged 39
Bernadette Egan, aged 38
Diana Dyer, aged 38
Tara Daynes, aged 39
Dominic Blythe, aged 37
Helen White, aged 38
Nicola Hulme, aged 41

Former X-Factor vocal coach Annie Skates, who has worked with artists including Elton John, Beyonce and Girls Aloud, will be ensuring The innocent Big Knit Choir sound pitch perfect and the re-release is produced by Darran Bennett, who’s publishing work includes artists from Fleetwood Mac to Britney Spears and as a producer took Holly Valance to Number One with ‘Kiss Kiss’.

About The Big Knit charity campaign innocent founder Richard Reed said,

“Grandmas are the cornerstone of the family and many contribute their time and wool every year to our Big Knit campaign – helping keep older people healthy and nourished at winter time.

We wanted to raise even more money for this year’s Big Knit campaign and what better way to celebrate older people everywhere than by re-recording ‘There’s No One Quite Like Grandma.’”

Every year, the Big Knit sees members of the public hand-knit woollen hats for innocent Smoothies and Squeezies, and woollen warmers for innocent Veg Pots. For every woolly product sold in Sainsbury’s stores, innocent and Sainsbury’s give 35p to Age Concern and Help the Aged, supporting healthy eating and living projects for older people this winter.

A gentle reminder of  ‘There’s No One Quite Like Grandma’

Why not become a fan of The Big Knit Choir on Facebook and follow on Twitter @innocentdrinks http://twitter.com/Innocentdrinks and if you are twittering about The Big Knit Choir and want to link up with other choir fans just use #BIGKNITCHOIR in your Tweet.