‘One kid barfed on my feet’: how There’s No One Quite Like Grandma became a Christmas No 1

‘She’ll look great on TV’ … soloist Dawn Ralph and the St Winifred’s choir at the BBC. Photograph: BBC

Tara Daynes, chorister

I was a pupil at St Winifred’s Roman Catholic primary school in Stockport. The choir had been going about eight years when I auditioned and already had a recording contract. The choir mistress Miss Foley was great. She wore Deirdre Barlow specs and, while she didn’t stand behind us with a pitchfork, she worked us hard and didn’t put up with any messing around. We did a few albums and lots of gigs, then we recorded the single There’s No One Quite Like Grandma. We met the songwriter, Gordon Lorenz, backstage after one of our concerts and then Miss Foley sat us down and told us to learn all the harmonies and such.