VIRTUAL VIDEO PERFORMANCE TO RAISE MONEY FOR MIND
MENTAL HEALTH CHARITY, IN MEMORY OF ONE OF THEIR OWN.                     

UK Soul Choirs of Kent and London were devastated when
lockdown led to their weekly ‘in person’ singing sessions being
halted. However, determined to keep their choir family singing,
founders and husband and wife team Abi Gilchrist and Ross Power
pivoted their whole business and launched the hugely successful
‘HOME SING’, which many of the members cite as saving them
from loneliness and isolation during lockdown.

London found that over half of their members didn’t feel able to
continue online when lockdown was announced but the choir
directors were determined to carry on connecting the 150
community singers through weekly online choir rehearsals and
other social events including online quizzes, karaoke and singing
workshops. Since then, people have joined from all over the country
and HOME SING has taken on a life of its own.

an uplifting virtual musical performance celebrating how members
kept the faith in their choir community and were able to use the
platform to not only 'speak your mind' but to ‘sing your mind’ at this
challenging time.

The charity fundraiser is more than just that though, as it has an incredibly special reason at the heart of it.

Rochester choir. Dan Shearman, a father of two, died after a
desperately tragic battle with depression. It led to many of the choir
singers opening up about some of their own struggles, and how
HOME SING has helped them on some of their darkest days.

time, but now this video is in memory of Dan. It has been such a
hard time for so many of our members, so to see them light up in
this way at HOME SING has been something about this time we will
never forget. For many. Being able to still ’see’ each other and to
enjoy weekly singing brought much needed routine and focus to the
weeks in lockdown and was of huge benefit in maintaining
members' positive mental health and wellbeing’ says Abi Gilchrist,
founder of UK Soul Choir.

Speaking of her husband, Jen Shearman commented, “I am proud and touched that this virtual performance has been dedicated to Dan's memory.  He loved being a member of UK Soul Choir and getting together with his friends to enjoy music gave him a huge amount of joy. I know he would have loved this performance.”

Soul Choirs Home singers, all who filmed in their own homes and
submitted their performance via a video platform. They perform a
specially arranged version of Stevie Wonder / Ariana Grande’s
‘Faith’ mashed with ‘Mercy’ by Duffy accompanied by professional
live band www.lastdynastyband.com

Whitstable choir member Geoff Court. He said, ‘I suffer with
depression and singing with UK Soul Choirs HOME SING during
this lockdown period has really helped me with my self-esteem and
confidence. Recording the video turned out to be an easy and fun
experience, giving me a great sense of achievement. It feels
wonderful to be part of such a worthwhile venture, raising money for
a cause that is very personal to me’.

member of the group doing 26 takes before sending in their video
but, says Abi, it has ‘brought the choir closer than ever' - ‘They are
all such a supportive crowd and to see how they hold each other up
even via zoom has been so heart-warming’.

Singing has always been well documented to have great mental health benefits and so UK Soul Choirs wanted to support the mental health charity Mind by fundraising through this virtual performance.

We aim to raise £10,000 so THANK YOU for your donations and please share far and wide!!

campaign by Revival, East Kent Mind that seeks to bring the
community together in these difficult times, to reflect on, share and
celebrate how they look after and support their wellbeing and
mental health through activities like singing.

www.soulchoirs.co.uk