The Ramblers was a choir of children from Abbey Hey Junior School from Gorton in Manchester, whose single entitled "The Sparrow" was a top 20 hit at Christmas in 1979.
The choir had adopted the name The Ramblers for a concert at the Royal Northern College of Music in 1978, and one of the songs, "The Sparrow", written by teacher Maurice Jordan, was so popular that the parent-teachers' association paid for the choir to record it at the Strawberry Studios in Stockport, along with four other folk songs; originally 500 copies were pressed up for sale at the school.
[1] Jordan had written the song six years before when a student at Millgate College of Education for his show The Transmogrification of Samuel Sparrow.
[2] The single was picked up by Decca Records and re-recorded under the production of Kevin Parrott, of Brian and Michael fame,[3] with another Jordan composition on the b-side.
11-year-old Lisa Wray took the lead vocal part, while the other members were 9- and 10-year-olds; one of them, Melanie Jerram, choreographed the choir's movements for the song.