A unique choir made up of victims of the NHS infected blood scandal has released its first ever single.

Silence to Song is a choir for people impacted by the devastating scandal between the 1970s and 1990s which saw over 30,000 people infected with hepatitis C and HIV due to contaminated blood product such as factor VIII and whole blood.

Widely regarded as the biggest treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, it is thought that around 2,900 died because of it.

The choir, who originally shared their story with Sell Us Your Story, is made up of people who were directly infected and their families.

They released their first single, Together We Rise, on January 30, to honour all those affected.

Silence to Song travel to cities across the UK, encouraging people who have been infected by the scandal to join in with a session and record new songs.

Michael Clegg died when he was just 33 after being infected with hepatitis C in the early 80s.

He had been having blood transfusions as part of his treatment for kidney failure.

His son, also called Michael, was just 14 months old when he died and decided to join the choir to remember his dad.

Michael, 25, from Stockport, said: "I heard about the choir last year. 

"I'm on a Facebook group called tainted blood and I heard about it on there. 

"I was very keen. 

"I didn't want to do the campaigning side of things and music was big for me and my family.

"I love it. 

"At the time I was very focused on what happened to my dad, so this was a breath of fresh air."

Michael initially struggled to come to terms with what happened to his dad.

He said: "How can the NHS do that? I couldn't really take it in. 

"The day before the first report came out, I was in hospital and it came on the news that the manufacturer was told about it before. 

"It was American imported blood.

"Dad was born in 1967 in Stockport - everything seemed fine and then three weeks later he was really ill.

"They took him to the local kids' hospital and found out he had kidney failure - which he had for most of his life.

"From the age of 10 he needed regular dialysis to clean his blood.

"Between 1980 and 83 - we don't know exactly - every six to eight weeks to treat the anemia, which was a side effect of dialysis, he had blood transfusions. 

"My nan told them not to give him blood until they checked with her.

"They gave it to him, and he had a fit as the blood was going in. 

"He recovered from it and two months later the nurse tells us he tested positive for Hepatitis C."

Diana, 70, and Mike Blake,73, from Welwyn Garden City, Herts., lost their son, Stuart, when he was just 27 years old - he was infected with HIV and Hepatitis C when he was a child.

Diana said: "Stuart was born haemophilic in 1978.

"He was infected with Hepatitis C in the early 1980s through his blood treatment. 

"He was also infected with HIV, and we were informed of this in 1985. 

"Factor VIII is the treatment he had and that was pulled from many American donors.

"He lived a live knowing that he was going to die at some stage - he had many periods of being quite poorly.

"We lived a life of secrecy - community-wise, people didn't know and there was still a stigma around HIV at the time.

"He went on to become quite poorly, and he had AIDs-related Parkinson's and dementia and eventually he died at 27 in May 2006."

Upon finding out Stuart had been infected; Diana and Mike were left "devastated."

Mike said: "You put your faith in the medical profession and what should have given him a better quality of life.

"It came out in the public inquiry that this wasn't an accident. 

"Nobody has been held accountable and to me that's wrong. 

"They knew what was going on and ignored it. 

"It's just wrong that people get away with this."

Diana added: "We were absolutely devastated.

"We were called into a room, and we were told this in 1985.

"We knew it was absolutely awful, we just didn't know it would happen to us."

After years of campaigning, the couple decided to join the choir to give them a "new lease of life."

Diana said: "It's exhausting campaigning, but the choir for us has given us a new lease of life and something to look forward to. 

"You can't live your life campaigning and fighting, but you can be part of a community that's enjoying something. 

"When we get together, we get together to make new friends and learn new songs

"It's just amazing, and we haven't sung since school!

"It's just lifted us all."

The choir are planning to release their second single later this year after a recording session in Wales in March.

By Jake Meeus-Jones