A friendly community choir for the elderly, lonely and isolated people in Hammersmith and Fulham. Led by our 2 Brit Award winning musicians we will meet once a week at 1.30pm on a Wednesday to sing for an hour in a beautiful Church (St Peters W6). The choir will feel very laid back and fun singing both contemporary and classical music. The idea is to create a weekly meeting place where people can build friendships with an easy activity that makes them feel great. We have visited Age Concern, WI and Age UK (Dec 19th). At Age Concern we had a group of elderly people singing their hearts out to 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' making a lovely sound which put a huge smile on all their faces (and ours). Then we'll al have tea and biscuits and spend time talking and forming friendships and bonds within the community. We would like to offer some Bursary places to those residents who can't afford to come and the money raised here will go towards that.
What we'll deliver:
- Alleviating Loneliness within the community
- Creating friendships
- Making use of an empty local Church
Why it's a great idea:
There are 19,200 residents aged 65 and over in the Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and many of them are combating isolation and loneliness according to Government reports. Singing in a choir improves physical and mental health and creates instant communities and friendships. We have had one older lady who lives alone and is keen to sing. She is not able to come to the evening choir because she's not very mobile and it's too late for her. We want to start this choir so that people like her will be able to come and sing and meet people in her community. We currently run 2 choirs at St Peters Church, W6 see our website www.singwest.co.uk. The Daytime choir will launch In January 2019. It will be easy and fun with a cup of tea and a biscuit at the end. Definitely no auditions or experience needed. I work with 2 Musical Directors who are both Brit Award winners from the group Only Men Aloud. The money raised will pay for an number of bursary places for new elderly members.
Steps to get it done:
- Choir launches on January 16th 2019 1.30pm
- Work towards a concert in June 2019
- Singing with our 90 strong adult choir and children's choir
