A choir celebrated 40 years of music-making with a 1970s-themed anniversary party in Homerton on Saturday.

The Hackney Singers was set up in 1973 after the council arts and entertainment department put an advert in the Hackney Gazette to form a singing group. The group became known as the Hackney Choral Society and they performed their first public engagement at Stoke Newington Town Hall in Stoke Newington Church Street.

The group was renamed the Hackney Singers in the 1980s and has performed at the Royal Festival Hall and the London 2012 Paralympics.

More than 60 people attended the party at the Hackney Marshes Centre in Homerton Road, which featured a buffet and singing.

Long-standing member Natalie Shefer, who attended, said: “I joined Hackney Singers in 1986. Then, we were a small group with only a handful of men.

“I had put off joining a choir because I couldn’t face an audition, but was told that Hackney Singers didn’t hold auditions.

“Daunting though it was, I plucked up the courage to join.

“I have had a wonderful time since joining but the important thing is that Hackney Singers do not hold auditions, enabling people like myself to have their lives enriched by singing in a choir.”

The group will be holding a Christmas concert at St ohn of Jerusalem church in Lauriston Road, Victoria Park on December 15.