Tuesday 19th December 2023
Report written by Nicola Thomas (She/her)
On Tuesday 21st we carried out the last GoodGym session of the year. What a highlight this was!
Nicola, (new to the Task Force!) Sarah, Ben and Edel helped the Choir with No Name to set up and serve their meal before they performed their Big Christmas Singalong at a sell out Dome.
The Choir was set up for people who have experience of homelessness and or marginalisation. It is a community initiative building joyful singing friendships in Brighton and other major cities around the country with a link to GoodGym via the wonderful Stefania, who is a massive part of both organisations. Our coordinator and, to Ben's surprise! :-), a singing volunteer member of the Choir in Brighton.
After the choir had eaten, we were offered a delicious meal too. The food was provided by Greek Restaurant Nostos in Holland Road, Hove.
We then had a drink in a local pub and joined the rest of the GoodGymers (10 of us in all) back at the Dome for the performance.
A highlight for me was the choir’s special version of 12 days of Christmas!
I think we all found the evening uplifting, joyful and at times very moving; members of the choir shared their stories of homelessness and how the choir has helped them to feel empowered and part of a community, which is also what GoodGym does for me.
We left the Dome feeling full of Christmas spirit with big smiles and hoarse from all the singing!
Merry Xmas all!
The Choir with No Name have been successfully running choirs and building joyful communities with homeless and marginalised people since 2008. We currently have five choirs: in Birmingham, Liverpool, London, Brighton (run in partnership with Brighton Housing Trust) and Cardiff (run in partnership with The Wallich). They were founded on the premise that singing makes you feel good; it distracts you from all the nonsense in life and helps you to build confidence, skills and genuine, long lasting friendships.
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Helping recycling xmas tree