Circle: care to sing?

CIRCLE launching new kinship choir for carers

West Pilton-based family support charity Circle has won Big Lottery funding to establish a choir for kinship carers in the city.  Kinship carers are relatives or friends who have stepped forward to care for children in their families whose parents are not able to care for them.

The choir will be led by musical director Kirsty Baird of the successful Edinburgh based  Sing in the City  group of choirs.  Kirsty and her Sing in the City team are experts in their field and know how to put even the most nervous first time singers at ease.  Kirsty believes everyone has a song in them and is confident of always getting the best sound out of all voices.

Circle’s Chief Executive Liz Dahl welcomes the launch of the choir. She said: “We know from our work with families that the commitment and sacrifice of kinship carers is giving thousands of children in Scotland the security of belonging to a family, when their own parents can’t care for them.  We are really pleased that the Big Lottery has helped fund the choir and look forward to welcoming any and all kinship carers along.”

The aim of the choir is to promote wellbeing, relieve stress, provide a fun activity, and hopefully create a performing choir which can raise the profile of kinship care and provide entertainment for everyone involved.

The choir will bring together local kinship carers in a relaxed, fun environment where they can sing to their hearts content without having their children tell them to pipe down! The choir runs on a Tuesday morning, so suits carers with children in nursery or at school. Circle welcomes all kinship carers and is happy for carers to bring along a chum at first if they don’t want to come on their own.

Kirsty Baird, Sing in the City’s Director, is enthusiastic about the new venture. She said: “Sing in the City choirs are successful because they are fun, and they provide people from all walks of life in Edinburgh with the opportunity to sing together, to make new friends, and to have a special time just for them away from work and family cares at least once a week. We are really excited to be involved in this new choir for a very special group of carers”.

Fun, free and open to all carers, the first meeting is on Tuesday 9 September at 10am.