Joining Forces for Silver Sunday (on Saturday)

Westminster Music Library was filled to the brim this Saturday for a hugely popular choir workshop which, with record attendance, topped even last year’s number of participants. Over fifty keen songsters rose early on Saturday morning to make music among the bookshelves, until it truly was standing room only!

The event was one of the many hundreds of events put on across the UK to celebrate Silver Sunday, a nationwide annual day to “celebrate older residents and help them get out and about and meet new people”. This year marks the fourth consecutive Silver Sunday and we were thrilled to be a part of it. Observant readers will notice that there was something unique about our event: namely, we hosted one of the only Silver Sunday events to be held on a Saturday! Our library’s opening hours necessitated this change, but, of course, it meant that all our attendees were able to join in with Sunday’s events, too.

We were honoured to have in attendance the Lord Mayor of Westminster, Councillor The Lady Christabel Flight, who, with the Sir Simon Milton Foundation, has pioneered Silver Sunday from its beginning in 2012 and is still very much showing her support for as many events as possible!

Keen followers of Westminster Music Library’s activities will be well aware of our year-long Joint Force Singers project in collaboration with Westminster Armed Forces. We were pleased to incorporate this choir project into our Silver Sunday event, as many of our choir members and non-members alike joined forces for the morning workshop. For our guests who weren’t members of the choir, it was a real privilege to join this established group of singers, and the choir’s presence gave the whole morning a real boost. We even had some non-members asking to join the choir afterwards! It’s not too late to join Joint Force Singers – if you live locally and would be interested in committing to our project, please contact Westminster Music Library.

The familiar faces of Project Officer, Felicity, and Accompanist, Helene, were seen, and the whole morning was led by the wonderfully talented Ruairi, the Joint Force Singers’ Musical Director. Ruth and Jon from the Music Library were our hosts for the event, ensuring everything ran smoothl, and re-formatting the library in record time afterwards to ensure we could open our doors to the public at 1 o’clock sharp!

As the morning took the form of a workshop, our choir members experienced a change from their regular rehearsal routine, while, in Silver Sunday spirit, our non-members found the event to be totally accessible even to those with no previous singing experience at all. Ruairi took us through a wide array of physical and vocal warm-ups, games, and then was able to teach us a significant amount of music, all in the short space of two hours! By the end of the session, he’d had us singing in canon (the musical term for a round) and two-part harmony: a great achievement for a group of singers who’d only been singing together for one morning. Music ranged from traditional English, to Scottish, to Swahili lullabies, and everything in between. All over the world there is such a rich musical tradition and we were fortunate to be led on a short tour of it all by our knowledgeable Musical Director.

All our guests were treated to well-earned refreshments, and were surely singing as they went home contented! Ruairi had really inspired folks with his enthusiasm and passion for making music. “I really enjoyed myself,” commented one of our attendees. Another said, “I try to attend all the events at the Music Library but this one was my favourite so far!”

Hosting events is a passion of ours here at the Music Library and our next one also has a sing-a-long theme – this Thurday 8 October, please feel free to join us for a World War I-themed singing event in collaboration with the London Transport Museum’s ‘Battle Bus’ project.

[Jon]