It was a year ago today that P&O’s workplace choir stunned colleagues in their first performance under Gareth Malone’s watchful eye.

P&O were selected to take part in the BBC 2 show, The Choir: Sing While You Work and won it in December last year.

Mr Malone met the choir at P&O’s office, Channel House and gathered together the people he’d selected through auditions.

P&O’s Brian Rees said: “There was a fair bit of leg-pulling going on as although some of the people he’d chosen had done some signing, many hadn’t.

“It was all water off a duck’s back to Gareth and he set about the process of moulding them into a choir in a manner and at a pace that made us realise the man’s more than just a very talented musician, he’s a force of nature.”

A little over one week later Gareth visited to see how they’d been getting on with their rehearsals.

He shocked everybody by telling them that he’d arranged their very first performance – in five minutes’ time for all their colleagues.

Mr Rees added: “We charged around the building to get everybody together, Gareth wheeled out the choir, and you could hear a pin drop in anticipation of the shambles that was sure to follow.

“After all they’d only been together for nine days at this point.

“The performance they delivered stunned everybody, silenced all the sceptics, and we realised that we were part of something very special.”

Read the full report in this week's Mercury, out on June 5.

WATCH: The choir put together a video in celebration of its year anniversary.