For over a decade, Northern Lights A Cappella, our award-winning singing group, has been a standout part of our student performing arts community. They have been UK champions for the last four years and were recently runners up in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella finals in New York.
Many of our singers remain involved in music after they graduate, as shown when a group of Northern Lights alumni, now performing as The Menagerie Club, appeared on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent (BGT) during the Blackpool auditions for the series.
We caught up with four of the six members of the group to reflect on their experience at Durham, life after graduation, and what the future might hold.
The energy you brought onto stage was so positive and joyful. Every song choice was amazing, the harmonising was out of this world!
Amanda Holden
Britain's Got Talent Judge
Tell me a little about your experience at Durham with Northern Lights
[Lucie] Northern Lights was my entire experience – I auditioned in my first week and then stayed behind after graduation to sing extra sessions. So, it really saw me through right from the start to the end. But I think something that is incredibly magic about Northern Lights is the fact that you are genuinely best friends.
[Adam] The group are so successful year on year because of the culture at Durham. The work ethic of the group is nurtured by the whole University, so much so that even when the line-up changes, the result remains the same. It’s not the individuals; it’s the culture around the group that makes it like it is. I was never in Northern Lights with Aislinn and neither was Andy, our beatboxer, but that just shows the thread that runs through even once people have left. We’re all from Northern Lights, but we’re not just from a snapshot of one generation.
How has life changed since graduation?
[Aislinn] Life has changed in lots of different ways – there’s a lot less structure. You have to have work ethic and make your own decisions on how you’re going to schedule your life around whatever you want to achieve, but Durham kind of prepared us a lot in that sense, learning became more fluid, less structured, and that helped.
[Lucie] When I left Durham, I had put the idea of performing to bed. I’m currently doing a law training contract. With the addition of The Menagerie Club, it’s exciting to know that I’m building towards something that’s going to give me future stability in terms of a career, but also that I’m not having to sacrifice the thing that brings me so much happiness. I think we’re lucky to find a balance.
[Anoushka] We have all grown so much and have stayed tightly connected from the shared experience of navigating life after university. We work hard and spend all our spare time pushing for success. Navigating a new way of life after university is daunting but we are so grateful to be busy doing things we love!
How was The Menagerie Club born?
[Adam] It took a while to work out what it was going to be, but it’s been about a year since we did our first gig in the way that we do now. It was born out of out of a kind of mutual understanding and collective curiosity.
[Lucie] I think one of the very first times we met, we had been watching Northern Lights recruiting new members on Instagram and we just wanted to do some singing. So, it was kind of finding our own purpose. And it’s fun.
[Anoushka] The timing couldn’t have been more ideal; we had all recently graduated and had a collective need to keep pursuing music after university. When we realised we all had this same vision was when The Menagerie Club was born, at a rooftop restaurant in London.
[Aislinn] It all just happened and then accelerated over time in terms of the gigs and the festivals that we were doing. The first festival we did was in Croatia, then Leipzig, then around Europe, because a cappella is big in Europe and especially Germany. Then we did our debut show in London at the Century Club in Soho, which was really cool, headlining our first hour long set.
Tell me a little about Britain’s Got Talent
[Adam] We were contacted by the show and went through the process suspecting that it might be a scam, because who thinks that BGT is going to just drop you a message? It was only when we were at the side of the stage and saw Simon Cowell that we thought this is actually Britain’s Got Talent!
[Lucie] I remember standing at the side waiting to go on and it was a particularly anxious wait because an act before us had been buzzed off – and then the next one got the golden buzzer! Our slot was pushed back as they cleared the confetti off the stage.
[Aislinn] It was so cool to meet Ant and Dec. They gave us hugs on the side of the stage and cheered us on. It was really lovely. [Lucie] We did wonder if BGT was the best thing for our reputation as musicians, but it was awesome. An opportunity to perform in the Winter Gardens in Blackpool in front of the owner of one of the biggest record labels in the country and a full studio audience. It was a bit of a fever dream. We were overwhelmed by how many people really, really loved what we were doing. It was humbling to see people appreciate this craft that we’ve all grown to love.
[Adam] The show was filmed in October 2025. It all went quiet and we continued to chase opportunities, assuming that BGT had fallen through. Then, six months later, with 48 hours’ notice, we were on national television on top of what had become a very busy schedule. It’s very exciting. Our videos have had over nine million views online and we now have over 20,000 followers across TikTok and Instagram.
Where do you go from here and what is the dream?
[Adam] There’s a couple of answers to that. From an a cappella perspective, Northern Lights changed our lives in various ways, but we’re very aware of how niche it is. It’s a difficult and quite serious musical discipline that is really enjoyable and something that people enjoy, so we would really like to make it a little more mainstream.
But we also just want to be credible artists. We just want to be a band and enjoy making music in the way that we like making it. We are at the stage of our lives where it’s hardest to do this because we have no stability. We have to work out how we’re going to pay rent each month. It’s not exactly the easiest financial climate to be doing this in either.
What we are doing in the short term as we build ourselves up as a band, is some corporate work: private events, weddings, parties and award ceremonies. Our music is very visual and great to dance to. This is great experience whilst building to becoming an independent artist.
And finally, what advice would you give new students?
[Lucie] Grab every opportunity that you can. We did incredible things with Northern Lights, and I was also heavily involved with Durham Student Theatre. Producing shows and performing on the Gala Theatre stage is something I’m probably never going to be able to do again. I got involved with the Executive Committee, and I was treasurer, which taught me that I love working with people and I love problem solving – that was massively influential in terms of helping me choose my career. The interview for my current job went so well because I had so much to talk about after my experiences at Durham. I found I had a load of really relevant transferable skills that meant I was offered a law contract even though I’d never done law before.
[Aislinn] A big thing about university is trying things that you find interesting, or trying something completely new, because that’s what helps you to learn more about yourself. This is when you really develop who you are as a person. There are so many societies, which I think is very unusual for quite a lot of universities. There’s something for everyone and there’s people who love the same thing. That’s where you make lifelong friends. I played netball, tried lots of other sports, and then joined Northern Lights. I’m about to start a graduate programme in consulting, and that will be so diverse. I think that my experiences at Durham will really help.
The Menagerie Club members are grateful for all the support and good wishes that they continue to receive from the Durham community. They attribute much of their success to the opportunities offered to them from the University. Check out their music @the.menagerie.club – they are available for corporate and private bookings. We wish them well with their careers.
Check out their music @the.menagerie.club – they are available for corporate and private bookings. We wish them well with their careers.
We wish them well with their careers.
We spoke to Adam Critchlow (Philosophy, St Chad’s College, 2021–2023), Lucie Fletcher (Music, Hatfield College, 2021–2024), Aislinn De Buitleir (Natural Sciences, Collingwood College, 2021–2024) and Anoushka Pluwok (Music, College of St Hild and St Bede, 2021– 2024).
The other two members are Nick Lau (Music, St John’s College, 2020–2023) and Andy Chan (Criminal Justice Studies, St Mary’s College, 2020–2023).
Northern Lights are part of Durham University Student Performing Arts which is home to 60+ theatre and music groups, supported by our dedicated staff team. Find out more about what Northern Lights and our 60+ other groups are doing at durham.ac.uk/colleges-and-studentexperience/enrichment-activities and instagram @du_performingarts.
