Thanks to more sporting fixtures Cardiff was completely packed all weekend - on Saturday we had to contend with jubilant Irish rugby fans celebrating their European Cup win and at the end of the day on Sunday we had to race to the station to try and get out of Cardiff before the Watford fans - only to find ourselves queuing with thousands and thousands of disappointed Leeds fans - not the quite the perfect ending to what was a fantastic weekend of singing!

It was absolutely pouring with rain as the singers arrived for the first session on Sunday ready to compete in the Children's and Open categories. The crowd was a bit restless but luckily we had Ken Burton on hand to lead the warm up session and it was nice to see Gillian Dibden and Tolga Kashif the judges for the day joining in from the judging desk up in the Dress Circle.

Circuit 16 Junior Training Choir, Nunnery Wood Primary School Choir, Ruskin School Choir, Tenbury CE Primary School Choir and the Green Singers all sang in the Children's Category and were followed by the Open Choirs Cancer Challenge Singers, London Turkish Radio Turkish Classical Music Choir and Orchestra and Cefn Hengoed Community School Choir.

For most of the audience this was the first time they had heard a Turkish Choir who sang traditional music with accompaniment from instruments including the ud, cumbus, kanun and other percussion - click here for further information about some of these instruments.

At the end of the session Ken Burton took to the stage again and we could hear the audience singing from the judging room right at the back of the theatre. Finally after much deliberation Radio 3's Kate Jones led Gillian and Tolga back onto the stage to announce the results. Circuit 16 Junior Training Choir, Ruskin School Choir and the Green Singers triumphed in the Children's Category while Cefn Hengoed Community School and the London Turkish Radio Choir both went through in the Open Category. The Cancer Challenge Singers were highly commended by the judges for their singing - while the rest of us were amazed to find out that they have raised £40,000 for charity.

Luckily the sun had come out in time for the arrival of the Youth and Adult choirs singing in the next session. The choirs took their seats in the auditorium: Backwell School Chamber Choir, Berkhamsted Collegiate School Chamber Choir, The Green School Gospel Choir and the Gryphon School Senior Girls Choir in the Youth Category and Girls Night Out and Sherbourne House Parents Choir in the Adult Category.

This was an eventful session - the Green School Gospel Choir had arrived expecting a playback facility for their music, and as this wasn't available the choir had 30 minutes to practise and prepare to sing Joyful Joyful (Beethoven arr. Mervyn) acoustically. Led by their inspirational Musical Director Sherlyn Sylvester the choir turned it round and were congratulated by the judges on their performance.

Our next drama was a missing singer from The Gryphon School Senior Girls Choir - Emma Norman was in London overnight taking part in the Breast Cancer Charity Moon Walk. She was up all night and then got straight on a train to Cardiff arriving with minutes to spare, joining her choir just as they walked on stage. Luckily Emma's tiredness didn't affect the choir and she proudly sported her medal as she came up to collect a certificate for The Gryphon School Choir Senior Girls Choir who were named Youth Choir of the Day. Backwell School Chamber Choir were Highly Commended.

Girls Night Out were stunned when they were named Adult Choir of the Day - this was their first time on stage.

That's the end of our Auditions for this competition - see the results for a full list of choirs going on to the National Selection Stage. We'll announce the finalists on 16 June.

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