The Military Wives: Wherever You Are – Nicky’s Story

This is Nicky’s story, one of four individual journeys taken from Wherever You Are by The Military Wives.

At 33, Nicky Clarke had stopped thinking she would ever fall in love. But they say when you stop looking, love happens – and that was the year she was swept off her feet by Hugo Clarke, a major in the Scots Guards. A year later Hugo and Nicky were married. But life in the military is never calm for long, and the next few years saw Hugo leave for Iraq and Afghanistan for months at a time.

In married quarters Nicky met other military wives quickly, but forging friendships proved difficult: the occasional coffee morning just wasn’t enough. Nicky decided that this community needed to be brought together.

With the help of a friend and a local choirmistress, Nicky set a time for the local wives to gather and sing. Before she knew it, a family was growing and a support network was formed. The first Military Wives choir was born.

Mere months later, the choir would become a nationwide phenomenon. The Wives would go on to perform for the Queen, record a bestselling album and achieve a Christmas number 1.

This is one woman’s true story of heartbreak and hope; of how singing changed the course of her life.

Sales of this ebook will benefit the Military Wives Choirs Foundation, a network of choirs that reaches across the military community to provide support, guidance and funding for individual choirs, but first and foremost to bring women closer together through singing. The Foundation is a registered subsidiary charity of SSAFA Forces Help.

Reviews

Praise for Wherever You Are:

‘This book is about growth and change… Entertaining and inspiring.’ Bel Mooney, Daily Mail

About the author

The Military Wives is a unique choir composed of the wives and girlfriends of military personnel deployed to Afghanistan. They were featured in Gareth Malone’s BBC Two series The Choir.

Nicky Clarke formed the first military wives choir at Catterick garrison – the ladies who came to be known as Catterick WAGS (Wives, Affiliates, Girlfriends and Servicewomen); they later merged with Gareth Malone’s choirs. Nicky now sings with the Salisbury Plain choir.