Starting the year in winning style, Kings Langley Community Choir was awarded first place in the Open Choirs section of the Watford Festival.

The event took place at Harberdasher's Aske's Boys' School, on Sunday, March 22, and the choir's pieces included Adele's Rolling in the Deep and The Staves' Wisely and Slow.

Adjudicator Tim Blinko, professor of Music at Hertfordshire University, congratulated the choir and scored the performance for an Honours awards, as well as first place.

The choir will now look forward to an exciting and busy May, being invited to two international festivals.

The first of these is Voices Now, staged at London's Roundhouse, and a few days later the choir will be in Kensington for the London Sangerstevne festival.

The choir will also return to The Houses of Parliament after an invitation from Mike Penning MP.

This follows last year's successful performance to MPs and parliamentary staff when the choir was the first ever to appear in The Palace of Westminster.