A local choir hopes that a batch of “really expensive” masks will allow them to sing together in person once more.

Andover Ladies Choir has ordered the specialist singers masks, which sell for around £17 each, for each of its 40 members, which will come to over £700 before postage.

The masks are specially designed to maximise airflow while keeping the fabric away from the face, and are produced by a team of Broadway costume designers in New York.

Clare Oliver, the musical director of the group, said that she had “a duty of care” towards the choir’s members.

“If I taught any other instrument, it would be different,” she said. “But singing loudly produces 30 times as many aerosols than speaking normally, so we all agreed to the masks.”

She said that though the masks were “very weird”, the choir has reacted positively to them. “One of the girls said we should sing something from the Jungle Book, because we’ll all look like monkeys!”

Five months ago, it’s unlikely the choir would have imagined they would be in this position, having just won two categories at the Mid-Somerset festival in Bath. However, their celebrations were cut short by the beginning of lockdown, and so the choir had to move online.

Though they could work over Zoom, Oliver had to mute members in order to make the sessions work, so she “couldn’t hear what they were doing at all.” Despite this, they still managed to learn four new songs, and put together a virtual recording of ‘Like a Rainbow Shining’, a song composed specifically for lockdown.

The masks are expected to arrive within the next few weeks, and if the use of the masks is approved at their AGM on September 9, the choir hopes to meet up once again to sing in Thruxton Memorial Hall soon after.