Andrew Nunn has conducted Carlisle Community Choir since its first rehearsal five years ago. How can we put this into context?

It's a little bit like Jose Mourinho managing a Sunday league football team: enthusiastic amateurs being coached by one of the best in the business.

Andrew, 29, is friendly and chatty with a drive that's apparent in his energy and his CV.

He teaches at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire. This is among the world's leading performing arts schools. He also conducts several choirs, including Les Sirenes. They won the national Choir of the Year competition in 2012.

On Sundays Andrew catches a train from Glasgow to spend two hours taking rehearsals at Holy Trinity Church on Wigton Road, Carlisle, coaxing performances from teachers, nurses, and people in numerous other non-musical jobs.

This all began when the former vicar here, Eleanor Hancock, wanted to start a community choir. She knew someone at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire. They suggested Andrew.

"It was meant to be a year-long thing," he says, talking in the church kitchen before most members have arrived.

What's kept him coming back for five years? "They're just such nice people. They work really hard. They want to do well. The main thing is, we come together because we enjoy music. They all have that shared love.

"In my experience people do want to move forward. That has to be done while having fun - this is a leisure activity for people. But ultimately they want to see that they've progressed."

Andrew feels it is important that the choir remains open to people of all musical abilities. Has he ever turned away the tunefully-challenged to improve the choir's chances in competition? He has not.

"Everybody is welcome. There's no audition. It's my job to support everyone. We have a membership from so many backgrounds in music and in life. People that have never sung in a choir. That used to sing when they were children. A lady was told when she was a kid that she couldn't sing. She came here: 'Oh, I can sing!'

"I take the choir at the junior conservatoire. They just do it. I'm not sure if there's ever any question in their minds that they can't do it. Here I'm working with people that maybe need their confidence building, in a way that's sensitive."

Has this been a learning experience for him as well as them? He grins. "Absolutely. I'd worked with some large choirs. They were quite advanced. Most of them can read music. Here I had no idea what to expect. That first session, the accompanist played a note on the piano. Most of them couldn't follow it. 'Ok... I'm going to have to think of a new tactic.'

"It's taking things much more slowly than I would normally. Thinking of different ways of coming at things. 'That hasn't worked so what do I need to do to get a result?' That has done so many good things for me as a musician."

And for the choir. Andrew praises its members' dedication. At auditions for the BBC's Choir of the Year competition in 2014 they were named choir of the day. They have sung at venues including Glasgow City Halls and the Sage at Gateshead.

"These are amazing places for a group of amateur singers. One of my big things is always to give people opportunities that they wouldn't have otherwise."

Closer to home the choir has sung at Carlisle's Christmas lights switch-on and the opening of the city's Old Fire Station arts centre. Groups of members have sung at care homes, hospitals and places recovering from Storm Desmond. Concerts have raised money for causes such as Cumbria Flood Recovery Appeal.

"That's a really important element," says Andrew. "That's the community part."

There are concerts in summer and at Christmas; the latter takes place this Sunday afternoon at St Cuthbert's Church.

The choir's usual repertoire includes classical, gospel and songs from shows. What they sing is partly dictated by the gender balance. There are about 70 women, and 14 men.

"That's a general thing with choirs. Because it's open to everybody we can't turn women away. Nor would we want to. But we need more men. I'd say to them, give it a go. There's probably a perception about singing in a choir. Maybe they haven't done it for a while. You'll be pushed to do something you didn't think you could do. You'll enjoy it."

What's it like for the conductor to have all those voices soaring towards him? Andrew pauses.

"Maybe I take it for granted now. When you sit back and think about it... the passion and enthusiasm. I mean this in the nicest way without being patronising: they're normal people who have a life away from music. They have a family. They work. They come in on Sunday to give me their energy and commitment.

"It's been five years of pleasure. If it hadn't been, I don't think the choir would have got that commitment from me every Sunday."

Several members have gathered in a meeting room before rehearsal to discuss what Carlisle Community Choir means to them.

Richard Fearn works in IT for the NHS and has been coming here for three years. "Singing in the choir is improving my mental health and wellbeing," he says. "You're being very social. And working towards a common goal - a concert.

"If you've got any problems or worries, because you have to concentrate so much it can help you forget about other things and focus on something positive."

For the past four years Tom Hutton and his wife Alison have travelled to Wigton Road from Langholm. Tom, a former teacher, has the carefree demeanour of a man enjoying retirement.

He says: "I'd never sung before. As a child I was told to stand at the back and mime. It's nice finding out I can sing a bit. It's a really lovely experience. Singing with 100 other people is fantastic. And Andrew is a genius."

Tom concludes his summary with a few words which feel as if they could be said by many of those here: "It makes me very happy."

Anne Dalton is an administration assistant with Carlisle Care Home team. She was here for the choir's first rehearsal in October 2012. "I've hardly missed a Sunday since. I'd just sung at school. I'm not a brilliant singer but I do enjoy it."

She says being named choir of the day at the Choir of the Year competition was a highlight. "We never expected anything like that."

Jan Massey, another who has been here since day one, recalls: "I was so nervous. I stood at the side of the stage and my mouth just went dry. I thought 'Oh god, I can't sing anything!'"

Jan is a retired teacher whose only previous singing experience was with her pupils. "For new people the choir has brought them out of themselves. A lot of people have made new friends. I've got friends who have come to almost all our concerts. They say 'What a difference - you improve each year.' It's important to me to feel we're progressing."

She comes to rehearsals while her husband watches football on TV. Could he be tempted to join her here? "No! He's happy with his football, I'm happy with my singing."

They are all keen to see more men in the choir. Some members, including Anne, were singing at Dobbies garden centre near Carlisle. "A group of men came over. We were going 'Can you sing?'"

Tom offers a tempting sales pitch: "There are many lovely and unattached women."

He also praises the tea and biscuits, and adds: "The practices are really good fun. I was 70 when I joined. So age is no deterrent."

It's time for rehearsal. On the way into the main body of the church another long-serving member, Anne Williams, says: "We're just like one big family now. You always go away feeling good."

Andrew leads the warm-up. Even "la, la, la, fa, fa, fa" sounds sweet. "Brr" and "prr" elicit a few giggles.

The preponderance of women is easily seen and heard. Sopranos fill one side and altos fill the back rows of the other. Basses and tenors are at the front... where Andrew can keep an eye on them.

This is a rehearsal for the Christmas concert. First they work on the appropriately named I Will Lift My Voice and Sing!

Men and women sing separately then together. The song is broken down into sections. Andrew offers instruction, sings some bits by himself, then launches the choir back into it with an "Off we go!"

There are quips - "Don't let her drag you down - she's a particularly bad influence!" - and praise: "You are doing so well!"

A full run-through sounds polished, although one man keeps going for a tad longer than his colleagues. Andrew jokingly threatens to throw him out.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas is then dissected, repeated, slowed down.

After an hour they break for tea. Marion Jones has been enjoying herself. "It's just the joy of singing. It's something to look forward to every week. It's good for you: good for health, good for the lungs. And the social side. Making new friends."

Something Richard Fearn said earlier about the joy of staging a performance seems appropriate at Christmas: "It's like a gift you're giving to people."

* Carlisle Community Choir gives its Christmas concert at St Cuthbert's Church, Blackfriars Street, on Sunday December 10 at 4pm. There is no admission charge. At the end donations will be welcomed, to be split between Stanwix School and choir funds.