Choirs delight community of supporters at Summer Concert

Age Concern Southend hosted their Summer concert at The Haven Community Hub on Friday 7th July, performing to a warm crowd of supporters.

The concert featured the ‘The Sound of Memories Choir’ who meet every Thursday at the Hub and Age Concern’s own Elderly and Dementia Choir, consisting of members from their neurological day centre, ‘Days at the Haven’.

This is the fourth free concert the team have held for the community, friends and family, having previously presented two Christmas concerts and a Jubilee concert. Over 50 guests attended to cheer on the choir and enjoy classic songs such as ‘Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue (Has Anybody Seen my Girl)’ and ‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain’.

Working with ‘Musicality – Therapeutic Music Intervention C.I.C’ the choirs have been practising for a number of months in preparation for the event.

Val Fida Director of Musicality – Therapeutic Music Interventions C.I.C. said, “I am immensely proud of the choir, they really rocked the house! The crowd of friends and family were clapping and singing along, there was a great atmosphere and lots of wonderful comments after.

This really was a team effort. I was accompanied by Martin on the guitar and we also had 3 service users involved in the music: Freddie and Graham on the keyboard, and Andy on the ukulele,” Val continued.

“I feel very lucky to do this for a job! I look forward to the next concert together.”

Singing and performing for seniors has proven to significantly improve your overall quality of life. Including, increasing self-confidence, reducing depression and anxiety, improving speech and communication and helping to evoke memories, keep your brain active and benefit memory.

Sarah Wilson, Supervisor at ‘Days at the Haven’ said, “These concerts mean a lot to our clients and their families. Our wonderful team of staff, volunteers and musicians have spent months practising with the two choirs, made up of over 25 people in total, to make this event possible. For our Neurological Day Centre client, many of which have Dementia, Parkinson’s and brain injury, singing for 1 hour to the public is no mean feat. They did a wonderful job joining with the amazing ‘Sound of Memories Choir’ to produce this community event.”

If you would like to learn more about joining the choir or services at Age Concern Southend’s neurological day centre, please email bookings@acsos.co.uk or call 01702 345373. More information can also be found at www.acsos.co.uk.