Choir raise the roof at retirement living scheme
Residents living in one of our retirement living schemes have put on their first ever performance as a choir.
The choir was formed just four weeks ago by Retirement living officer (RLO) Zoe Brown and choir mistress Lorraine, bringing together residents at the scheme in Stafford.
The eight choristers performed in front of other residents and colleagues, from across Housing Plus Group, and are in the process of planning more events in the coming months following its success.
Lorraine, choir mistress, said: “Some of the residents were looking for something to do and Zoe mentioned that we could form a choir, so we decided to get a group together and we’ve been singing every Tuesday since.
“It has great benefits to your mental health, getting people laughing and just enjoying themselves for a couple of hours.
“We really get into it and enjoy it. I love it because I’ve always sung and, in the future, we’d like to go out and put on performances elsewhere.”
Paula moved into the scheme only a week ago and joined the choir to help her get to know other residents.
She said: “I love singing, I’ve always been in choirs since I was a kid.
“I moved here just a week ago and I’ve joined in on lots of activities and I thought the choir was another way of getting to know people.
“It seems like a really nice place to live.”
Retirement living officer Zoe helped to set up the choir. She said: “They were nervous to perform today but they’ve worked really hard and they did amazingly. It made me so proud.
“We’re now going to go around and perform at the other schemes.”
Les Clarke, Executive director of housing and care, attended the performance and even joined in for a couple of songs. Les added: “Music has so many benefits for our wellbeing and it has been so lovely to see the residents enjoying singing for us all today.
“I’d like to thank Zoe for the work she has put into starting the choir and I look forward to seeing more of their performances in the future.”