Islington council got in to the festive spirit with a special Christmas concert which showed town hall staff have the X Factor.

On December 12, 38 Islington Council staff wowed a 200-strong audience at St Mary Magdalene Academy, in Liverpool Road, with a selection of carols, jazz standards and show tunes.

The three-part harmony choir, brainchild of council social services worker Heidi Rossetter, were formed in January and had been rehearsing hard for their big day.

Ms Rossetter said: “I was watching Gareth Malone’s ‘Sing While You Work’ on BBC and thought it would be fun to do something like that for council workers to give something back to the community as well as have some fun.”

Charles Dean, press officer for the council, and one of two men in the choir performing at the Islington school, said he joined because of a love of singing.

“This is a great chance to practice and make some friends along the way.”

Mr Dean added: “The boys may have been outnumbered by the girls but we gave it our all at the Christmas concert.”