We had one of our occasional evening meetings today. There were four visiting Rotarians: one from the Rotary Club of Chelmer Bridge, one from Woking and two from Massachusetts.
After dinner we had a short talk and video presentation by Donna Tristram and Edie Farrell (pictured) from The Big Sing. The first group was established in Witham in 2011 with a view to forming a community choir to sing at a local festival. After the festival the group members insisted that they should continue meeting to sing together. There are now groups in Essex, London, Suffolk, Kent and the Midlands.
There are community singing groups for all ages and abilities, including Big Sing (12-120 years of age, although one suspects they may not have many members over 100), Little Sing (5-11) and Tiny Sing (0-4). We were assured that even babies can sing!
The group has its own charity. Since it was founded it has raised £87,000. There are 13 full-time employees and numerous volunteers.
At 8:30 pm we were joined by members of the local group, who sang a number of pieces for us and tried to get us all to join in their final song - with mixed success.