PART 1 - GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COMPANY’S ACTIVITIES AND IMPACTOur company was continuing to grow this year, taking on more corporate clients and building our community provision until the pandemic hit. We have struggled with our corporate services since Covid, with many booked sessions cancelled, however some of them we have managed to move online. We have showed strong resilience and have been successful in accessing some grant funding in order to ensure we have kept provision available. We have taken our community services online and added other creative was of connecting people who have been unable to get online. Our delivery pre-pandemicSing Therapy; monthly group for people affected by cancer. Evidence shows that singing releases endorphins which interrupt a person’s perception of pain and has also been shown to boost the body’s immune response. Participants engage in relaxation and breath work during the sessions which they can also use at home. Participants report feeling less stressed and being uplifted after sessions as well as benefitting from the peer support elementKeighley Can Sing; bi-monthly singing group open to anyone from the Keighley area. Participants report making friends and feeling less isolated, feeling less anxious and stressed and feeling uplifted.Singing for Breathing, Halifax; Weekly group for people with a range of respiratory conditions. Singing leader is trained in delivering sessions by British Lung Foundation. Through the sessions participants learn to be aware of their breathing and posture and learn exercises that support them in their self-care and management of their condition. In addition, participants report feeling uplifted, less stressed, less isolated and some members have reported improvements in lung function readings.Singing for Happiness, Orb; Weekly sessions for people struggling with poor mental health. Singing has been proven to release the 4 ‘happiness hormones’ including dopamine which produces feelings of pleasure and Serotonin which helps regulate mood and also aids sleep and regulates appetite. Participants report improved feelings of happiness, reduced isolation, reduced anxiety and stress. We regularly get between 10 -20 participants per sessionSinging for Dementia, Orb; Bi-monthly sessions for people living with dementia and their carers. Participants and their carers report feeling less isolated and stressed, less tension in their relationships, as well as improved feelings of connection and happiness. Singing for Joy, Parkinson’s, Elland; Weekly sessions for people with Parkinson’s and their carers. The group regularly gets between 12-20 participants each week. Participants have formed a strong supportive bond and benefit from support from peers. Evidence shows that singing can help strengthen muscles and motor function often weakened by Parkinson’s, improving voice, speech, respiratory function, and voice-related quality-of-life. Participants report reduced anxiety and stress and feeling uplifted after sessionsFrom March 2020Facebook LivesEvery Monday at 10am and Friday at 12.30. A live video consisting of breathing and physical warm-up, plus song teach and sing along. Followed by posting of singalong video. All videos stay on the Facebook page for people to use as often as they like. Open to all previous group participants plus new audience members. Facebook followers and numbers interacting with our posts have more than doubled. Shared Harmonies ZoomsWe run a weekly zoom for people from any group. Singing for Dementia, OrbWe have produced DVDs full of videos of songs that our group members are familiar with so they can singalong. DVDs are posted to participants homesSinging for Happiness, OrbThis group has moved to a weekly zoom session. We include warm up exercises, singing and an opportunity for participants to connect and chat. Our Song‘Our Song’ was a project launched in April 2020 in response to the lockdown measures enforced by the coronavirus pandemic and to help reduce feelings of isolation. The aim was to create a sense of connection and community by engaging people in a creative project to produce a brand new song. We made it easy for people to join in through social media, email, and phone asking people to share their thoughts and ideas around human, environmental and self-connection, we also engaged people living in residential care by working with activity coordinators. The project engaged over 300 people from across the country from ages 3-92! The project was featured on printed press and radio and was awarded a Community Spirit award by Calderdale Community Foundation. https://youtu.be/LeGb2T6RaZo

We continue to gather regular feedback from participants through evaluations forms, verbal feedback and testimonials. All feedback is considered in the planning of our existing services as well as the development of new ones. This input has been vital in helping us in planning how to redesign our services during the pandemic to meet both existing and new demand.“Please keep singing, your sessions are so important to us, they really cheer us up and are an important link to the outside world” Participant Zooms / Lives“Thank you, so lovely to sing and the warm-ups are really calming” Participant Zooms / Lives“This has been the best thing to happen to me during the lockdown and has been an inspiration. I was fascinated by the whole process of how a song comes together and how you got the ideas from us was lovely. I’ve told all my friends and family” Participant Our Song“I was feeling isolated, down and fed up so I went and listened to Our Song and felt much happier”“It meant so much to me. Being involved in this project has been a lifeline; it’s helped me be creative and feel connected at a very difficult time. I can’t imagine how I would have felt if I had not been part of this team.” Team member, Our SongFeedback and testimonials are sought from all corporate customers. “Our regular choir has now moved online and now more than ever, I find it a great way to de-stress at lunchtime, and to interact with colleagues from different parts of the business. I always go back to my desk with a smile on my face!” Irwin Mitchell workplace choir

No remuneration was received

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration