Military Wives Choir members said they were still “pinching themselves” as they announced their Christmas number one single had raised more than half a million pounds for charity.

The song Wherever You Are, which used lines from the wives’ love letters to their husbands serving in Afghanistan, was the fastest-selling charity single since Elton John’s Candle In The Wind in 1997, the Official Charts Company confirmed.

As the group, formed by the wives of servicemen from Plymouth-based 42 Commando and RMB Chivenor, and their choral director Gareth Malone presented a cheque for £503,985 to the Royal British Legion and the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) Forces Help, yesterday, Mr Malone said it felt like a dream.

He added: “It’s astonishing that something we recorded in a few hours has taken off like this. When I first heard the song, I thought there is something here that will appeal to lots of people but I had no idea it would take off like this. Nothing I have ever done comes close to this.

“It’s all a bit of a dream. I’m pinching myself.”

Mr Malone said he thought the British public enjoyed the chance to have a cry that the song offered.

“We are stoical by nature and all that but we like those moments where you get a good chance to let it all out and that is absolutely what that has been like for these women, letting ten years in Afghanistan and all the pent-up emotion and difficulty come out and having a good cry. It makes you feel a lot better.”

Nicky Kenyon, 37, said their success first felt real when she saw her child singing along to the single on television.

She said her husband Adrian was thrilled with her success and happily took on all the tasks of the Christmas celebration so she could focus on the choir.

“If it hadn’t been for my husband, six children would not have had Christmas presents this year and we wouldn’t have had Christmas dinner,” she said. “He just took over the reins. He was totally amazing.

“The surreal thing for me was walking into the lounge to see our video on music TV and my five-year-old singing along to it saying ‘Mummy, that’s your song’.”

Laura Baldwin, 26, from Plymouth, said her husband, Sergeant Jamie Baldwin, was also delighted by their triumph.

“My husband has been absolute fantastic, really supportive. I think it has given the husbands peace of mind while they have been out serving that we have had something to focus on back home,” she said.

“Now I sing all the time at home, in the shower, with the radio in the car. I have a new baby and I sing to him all the time.”

The choir also announced they will release an album in time for Mother’s Day, featuring the single, as well as covers of Adele and U2 songs.

It will raise money for the Military Wives Choir Foundation to help set up other choirs on military bases.