Studies suggest that singing can enhance your mood, help with your blood pressure and reduce feelings of chronic pain. The good news is that you don’t have to be very good at it, just 5 minutes of singing every day can improve your wellbeing significantly.

Members of our Hospice Community Choir would agree with these statistics, having met up for weekly sessions at the Hospice for the past 10 years.

Our Hospice Community Choir began after a generous donation from Ben Makin, whose wife Marilyn was under our care. Marilyn had sung in many choirs over the years and, expressing her love of music, had asked if some singing could take place at the Hospice while she was being cared for on our In-Patient Unit.

After agreeing that members pay a small fee per term, the choir was able to employ a professional choir director, Michael McLaughlin, under who it grew steadily and began to hold regular Summer and Christmas concerts.

In 2016 the choir was delighted to be asked to join the London Hospice Choir and singer Paul Carrick, who sang on the original recording of The Living Years at the famous Abbey Road studios in London.

In 2019 and under the direction of Michael, the choir collaborated with The Strawberry Hill House Choir and formed 100 Voices, who sang at Cadogan Hall to raise funds for the Hospice.

Singing was forced to take a back seat during the Covid-19 pandemic and Michael sadly left the position of Choir Director. However, the choir was delighted to be up and running again in 2021 and appointed Sarah Baillie as their new Choir Director. Membership continues to grow steadily and the choir members’ sense of being part of a compassionate community has continued to thrive.

The Summer and Christmas concerts are now firm fixtures in the Hospice Community Choir calendar. The last two concerts both had their largest audiences to date, and they hope to continue growing and raising funds. The choir’s tenth year has proven to be a great opportunity to celebrate its achievements as well as to raise valuable money for the Hospice.

The choir has set itself the challenge of raising ten thousand pounds for its tenth year. To commemorate this, Sarah has worked passionately to make the Gala concert in March an extraordinary event that will combine the choir members’ voices with singing professionals. They will also be joined by pupils from the Senior Vocal Group of Manor House School in Little Bookham, where Sarah teaches.

They are also looking forward to our summer concert in June, to continue to celebrate the choir’s tenth year anniversary.

The choir was, and still is, open to anyone and continues to welcome new members on a non-audition basis. It has attracted patients, their families and friends, volunteers, members of staff and members of the local community. Everybody is welcome.