A church that hopes to get gospel choirs singing in the community has received £1,000 from a supermarket.

Tesco awarded the money from its Bags of Help scheme to Gospel Temple Apostolic Church, which saw a demand for West Indian gospel singers to sing in the local community as a result of the gospel choir at Meghan Markle’s wedding.

The project aims to recruit experienced and inexperienced singers to create a local gospel choir over the festive season.

It will involve a performance at its 29th anniversary in October, singing workshops in November and Christmas carol singing at local supermarkets.

Jason Young, associate pastor at the church, said: “The local community will benefit from this project by attending free singing workshops where they can learn breathing exercises, share skills and develop the practice of singing.

“We are providing this free of charge to the local community as they are doing their shopping.

“Some customers have songs of their own that they want us to sing. Others will be happy just to hear us sing to lighten the atmosphere.”

Voting ran in stores throughout May to June 2019 with customers choosing which local project they would like to get the top award using a token given to them at the checkout. Gospel Temple Apostolic Church came third and was awarded £1,000.

Tesco South Tottenham has previously collaborated with Gospel Temple Apostolic Church to redistribute surplus food to those at risk of hunger in the local community.

Gospel Temple now runs a food hub opposite Tottenham Jobcentre at Tottenham’s Living Room to feed rough sleepers and the unemployed.