A Real Community Venture.

I spent a magical hour yesterday lunchtime in Gloucester Cathedral listening to the Caring Chorus, a new choir made up of staff from our local health authority, the brainchild of an ex-student of mine, Lucy Mathieson. All I can say is - move over Gareth Malone! Under the expert input of their musical director, domestic staff, consultants, nurses, porters, medical secretaries and other sundry healthcare workers put on a brilliant concert, with pieces ranging from 1970s hits through African vocals to the beautiful Irish Blessing (which had me in tears). It was their first public appearance and they got a standing ovation from a packed cathedral. A tremendous success - and a great tribute to Lucy's belief in her idea and her dedication to making it happen.

Caring Chorus

I think there's something very special about such community ventures, something that unites and gives a common sense of purpose. It's great when that works with writing too; for several years I've worked in nursing and care homes with elderly residents undertaking joint writing projects - two of which resulted in informal publications sold in aid of the home's activity programmes. Anna Saunders, the director of the Cheltenham Poetry Festival, is currently planning for the forthcoming festival (March 28th - April 6th 2014) and I'm very much hoping that we'll be including outreach programmes with workshops for local groups to really make it relevant to the whole Cheltenham community.