THE Military Wives Choir have had their share of success with two UK number ones but, for the Rosyth version, it’s about much more than the music.

The singing groups have given women in the forces community the chance to combat loneliness, make new friends and have some fun. And eat cake!

The Press met the Rosyth choir to hear what life is like for the families of service personnel.

Karyn Aygun, a retired veteran from the Royal Navy, has been singing its praises and said: “We have a common bond, we’ve all been there, and it does not matter what service you’ve been involved in, you’re speaking to people with similar problems who have often been through whatever you’re experiencing."

Her husband was in the Navy and the connection to the forces goes back to her father. She said: “I remember we only got 40 words to send to my dad every month.

“They miss life events and you have limited contact, but you just get used to it. Most of us in the choir have lived all over the place but wherever you go, you immediately feel at home with the support of other military families.”

One common theme among the 11-strong choir was that many had met at different times of their life and reconnected years later. It helps that forces women can slot in easily to a military wives choir as they all literally sing from the same hymn sheet, the same repertoire making them feel they're in a familiar place. Belting out everything from pop hits to favourites from the musicals and traditional military songs, they also have songs especially rearranged for them.

There are no auditions and choir leader Elaine Grant laughed: “The main thing is the cake! The choir is great for socialising and people really don’t have to perform if they don’t want to."

Elaine lived all over the world during the time her husband worked as a medic in the army for 20 years. She said: “I married him a week after I met him, and we’re still married 44 years later! Despite all the travelling the longest we were apart was 70 days.”

The choir is a fun addition to her life and she said: “We’ll go anywhere to perform but we would love to play with the Royal Marine band in the future.”

Lesley Kay is married to an army veteran and said: “You make very close friends with people and all of these people are still my best friends even though they live all over the place. It’s great that I can reconnect with people in the choir too.”

Nicola Finlay was an aircraft mechanic in Cornwall and was discharged when she fell off a helicopter and was injured.

She said: “People become great friends in the military community because they do not have family around. You don’t seem to be able to get away from them because they always pop up somewhere else! It’s quite clear that’s the case even in this small group of women in the choir.”

The group meet every Tuesday at 7.30pm at MoD Caledonia. Contact Elaine on 07379 11 535 for more details.