You should not be surprised to hear joyful singing echoing down the corridors of East Surrey Hospital, Redhill, Surrey as staff and volunteers have joined voices with the relaunch of their workplace choir.
The resident choir, known as the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust choir (SASH), is currently recruiting choristers and is open to all members of the local community. The choir forms part of a project to promote health and wellbeing in the workplace. No audition is required and everyone who loves to sing is welcome to come along to rehearsals.
The reinstatement of the SASH choir has been made possible with funding from BRAVO, a Surrey-based, not-for-profit, social enterprise that operates across Surrey and Sussex. BRAVO is made up a team of volunteers from a pool of local businesses who donate their skills and experience to organise business networking events and to produce their annual Choiroke concert. BRAVO has been producing events since 2010.
Choiroke, now in its seventh year, is BRAVO’S flagship annual event and connects people through song. It takes place at the Harlequin, Redhill on Saturday 10 June and seven choirs will perform. Five of the choirs will be performing for the first time. Choirs are brought together from across Surrey and Sussex and perform for one night only. The profit generated from Choiroke 2016 has been used to fund reinstating the SASH choir at East Surrey Hospital. The Creative Producer of Choiroke, Louise Camby from Epsom, Surrey stated, “Last year’s Choiroke generated some surplus profit to give back to the community and we have put this towards reinstating the workplace choir at East Surrey Hospital. {{This is a special milestone in BRAVO’S journey and we are very excited.}}“
The fledgling choir is ably led by the enthusiastic and energetic choir leader, Alix Lewer. Redhill-based Alix, who is passionate about empowering people, said, “Singing encourages a sense of wellbeing and is good for the soul. It is a powerful form of expression which promotes inclusive communication, social inclusion and fun.”
This belief can be seen in action as she also leads The Include Choir which is an inclusive community choir for people with and without communication or learning disabilities. They use Makaton signing, objects of reference and other inclusive communication techniques to help people understand and take part.
The plan is for the SASH choir to perform live at this year’s Choiroke along with The Include Choir and five other community choirs.
For the third year running, in addition to the main Choiroke event which takes place on the evening of Saturday 10 June, there will be a special matinee Schools Choiroke, bringing together school choirs from across Surrey and Sussex.
The SASH choir welcomes new members and encourages people to come along to the rehearsals which take place every Thursday from 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM in the Lecture Theatre at East Surrey Hospital. For further information, please contact Sarah Wood, Head of Workforce Relations at East Surrey Hospital at choir@sash.nhs.uk.
Tickets for Choiroke on Saturday 10 June can be booked through the Harlequin Box Office. Tel: 01737 276500.
For further information on Choiroke, please contact louise@choiroke.co.uk.
BRAVO Website: http://www.bravobizevents.co.uk
BRAVO Twitter: https://twitter.com/bravobizevents
BRAVO Facebook: www.facebook.com/BRAVOBizEvents
Choiroke Twitter: https://twitter.com/Choiroke
Choiroke Facebook: www.facebook.com/Choiroke
Choiroke website: www.Choiroke.co.uk
Choiroke Show reel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHD5bWh0HK0
ENDS
If you would like to interview Louise Camby, Alix Lewer or Sarah Wood, please do not hesitate to get in touch. Media information provided by Famous Publicity. For further information, please contact Mary-Jane Rose on 0333 344 2341 or mary-jane@famouspublicity.com or Adam Betteridge on 0333 344 2341 adam@famouspublicity.com.
About BRAVO
BRAVO is a Social Enterprise formed as a Community Interest Company (CIC).
BRAVO’s objective is to connect business with the community across Surrey and Sussex; it is achieving this by producing business and community events and injecting the profits back into the community by supporting cultural community projects.
BRAVO has organised and hosted many highly successful networking events across Surrey and Sussex using interesting, prestigious venues including Herons Bonsai and Vines’ BMW showrooms. Their networking events are unique as they are organised to give delegates the maximum return for the time they have invested in attending. Each event is structured and gives attendees a variety of networking sessions – Spotlight, Open and Exclusive 1-2-1 –. Delegates are given a detailed delegate lists, refreshments are supplied and there is often a guest speaker. Events usually take place in the evening but some are during the day. They have been well supported and have received phenomenal feedback from both delegates and sponsors alike.
Team BRAVO is a group of business people freely offering the skills and experience they’ve gained in their respective fields to work together to meet BRAVO’s objectives and fulfil its mission and vision.
