Lambeth Stroke Choir’s Crowdfunding Campaign

18 May 2016

Written by: Disability Advice Service Lambeth

Health and Wellbeing - News and announcements

The London Stroke Choir has been open to stroke survivors from anywhere in London, not just people from Lambeth and Southwark. We are very excited by the potential of the choir, not just because it is an enjoyable way for people to meet socially and enjoy singing, whatever their ability.

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Lambeth Stroke Choir’s Crowdfunding Campaign

Why is singing so good for stroke survivors?

Researchers have found that people who have lost the ability to communicate due to severe brain damage can regain it by singing the words. They believe that the melody can help the brain rewire itself so that it can bypass the damaged regions of the mind and so communicate.

Our choir has been enjoying meeting, socialising and singing for a few years and we need funds to carry on and pay for the musical director and coordinator plus admin and event costs. We would love to put on three events over the course of the year, with a special event in collaboration with King’s Bio Science Public Engagement Services who has a great display of photos about Stroke Survivors.

We need your help to continue

Because we no longer have funding to run the Choir we have had to suspend it at the end of March 2016. We would love to be able to re-start it in September 2016 but will need to raise funds to meet the costs of coordinating and supporting the Choir, musical direction for rehearsals and travel and other costs for public performances.  If you can help with a donation we would love to hear from you or visit our Just Giving Campaign Page for this project.

Why we are so passionate about The London Stroke Choir

David Strong, Director, Disability Advice Service Lambeth“The London Stroke Choir is one of the most exciting projects which Disability Advice Service Lambeth has been involved with. We’ve been privileged to have been able to build on the work which Lil and others did to get it off the ground and to support it for almost four years through our Stroke Network coordinator, Manuela Gouveia. Stroke survivors, many of whom have aphasia or other communication impairments, have gained huge enjoyment and confidence from being part of the Choir. Sadly, because of a lack of funding, we are not able to continue it after this month but if we could get some financial support over the next few months we would love to be able to restart it from September”

David Strong, Director, Disability Advice Service Lambeth

Manuela Gouveia, Stroke Network Coordinator, Disability Advice Service Lambeth“As someone involved in a community choir myself, I have loved the opportunity to enable stroke survivors to enjoy the benefits of singing. It has been inspiring to see members of all singing abilities working together, learning from each other and giving each other support. The weekly rehearsals have really brought the Choir together and we have loved being involved in a number of very successful public performances which have showcased what stroke survivors are capable of to a wider public. We really hope we can find a way of raising enough donations to allow us to start the Choir up again later this year: our members are as keen as ever to be part of this great story”.

Manuela Gouveia, Stroke Network Coordinator, Disability Advice Service Lambeth

Find out more

You can read more about The London Stroke Choir on the Disability Advice Service Lambeth website.

To donate to our fund raising campaign please visit the Just Giving website.