The blog today is about a weekly activity that I do that I find myself looking forward too, quite a rarity for me so I thought if I try and focus my thoughts on the subject it would have some benefits for my mental health generally, so here goes.
It’s a music group that meet in a pub called the Caledonia that is situated on the fringes of the city centre. There are quite a number of colleges and the like in this end of town, one of which I went to and studied art for about five years. The venue itself has won appreciation for its unique contribution to the local community and I’ve spent many a pleasant time there, I have blogged about it before about a year ago but today am updating you on some of the people in the group and the vibe therein.
The group that meets there on Tuesday afternoon’s has grown in number and the core group of people who come at least once a month now numbers about fifteen. Most people have come on the recommendation of existing members of the group; word of mouth is very much the social media that works for the group whose average age is about sixty, so for example I have been attending a ukulele class for a few months now, organised by a Mental health project called Our Time and run by the Richmond Fellowship so a few people from that group pop in. We have had up to half a dozen ukulele going strong one afternoon as enthusiastic players brought their songs out to the wider public, ie our little group and the few other regulars that seem to enjoy listening in on our efforts.
Last week found an impromptu reunion for me with some members of a choir that I attended for a number of years, from about 2009-2012. The choir was called the I Choir had a particular focus on including people struggling with their mental health and the people that turned up at the pub last Tuesday were myself, Richard, Brenda and Luke who where in the choir at the same time. For a while it had a really good vibe going and made for a safe place for me to go and let rip with songs such as The Lion Sleeps tonight otherwisw known as Wim-Away (a number incidentley that the ukulele group play and always gets everyone going). As well as meeting every week and the very occasional performance at health and community related events we went away together for a few short holidays, to Wales and Northumberland. At this time any strange environment would terrify me, a bit like now- and my world was much reduced because of it. I don’t think I was the only one in the choir who would have been unable to organise a trip out of Liverpool. Fortunately there were others more sorted who took on the lion’s share of the organising. One such person was Brenda who took on the role of chef for the trips, buying the food and planning the recipes. Eating together was a challenge for me at the time, but the chopping of veg and chatting or not over these tasks was an important way to feel included in the holiday. Brenda always made her sunny outlook on life available to anyone who came in the kitchen. Brenda and Richard still sing together in Liverpool Voice and I went to see them perform recently at the palm House, Brenda has a big folksy voice and she sang a solo, chatting briefly afterwards she said she would come down to see what we got up to on a Tuesday and sure enough, this week came along to see what it was all about. It was lovely to see her and sing together but the biggest surprise was seeing Luke who had turned up for the first time- on the recommendation of Paul, another regular at the session altogether hence the title of the blog.
I know the choir world and mental health world is quite small in the city but still it must have been a good five years since we had met up and it felt to me quite special. We got to reminiscing about those days and the holidays in particular were acknowledged as high points. Brenda used to take her grandson Josh on the trips away and in a cramped house in Wales near Abersoc, Josh, myself and Luke were bunked in together. This was until we settled down to sleep on the first night and realised that Luke snored so loud-it was like some-one sawing a log with a bow saw! Myself and Josh both decamped to another room in an attempt to get some kip-we ended up sleeping on the couches downstairs for the rest of the night. In the morning, Josh and I were feeling awkward, not knowing how to explain the situation without upsetting Luke. I can’t remember how exactly it was resolved (probably with Brenda/grandma’s intervention) but i can still see Luke’s apologetic face now-he had lived on his own for quite some time and just didn’t know he snored at all, well how would you.
Myself, Luke and Richard did another creative music project some time afterwards and I discovered Luke had a great skill with words and poetry, from such a quiet fella powerful words and expressive language came forth, I remember being both surprised and quite a bit jealous. It was lovely to see him again and although we didn’t chat loads, I am hopeful that he will return on future Tuesdays and we can become friendly with each other again. At the end of the session Brenda offered a lift to both Richard and Luke as they all live nearby- it’s what she always did on choir night, but today she wasn’t driving, her grandson Josh, now twenty! had dropped her off at the pub and was picking her up too.
It has been helpful to me, dare i say therapeutic, to collect my thoughts about nice people who have come into my life over the years, at difficult times yet despite their own challenges have made me feel ok about myself. One more update on the pub; they are now officially the most dog friendly pub in the northwest of England, they even sell dog beer!
It’s a music group that meet in a pub called the Caledonia that is situated on the fringes of the city centre. There are quite a number of colleges and the like in this end of town, one of which I went to and studied art for about five years. The venue itself has won appreciation for its unique contribution to the local community and I’ve spent many a pleasant time there, I have blogged about it before about a year ago but today am updating you on some of the people in the group and the vibe therein.
The group that meets there on Tuesday afternoon’s has grown in number and the core group of people who come at least once a month now numbers about fifteen. Most people have come on the recommendation of existing members of the group; word of mouth is very much the social media that works for the group whose average age is about sixty, so for example I have been attending a ukulele class for a few months now, organised by a Mental health project called Our Time and run by the Richmond Fellowship so a few people from that group pop in. We have had up to half a dozen ukulele going strong one afternoon as enthusiastic players brought their songs out to the wider public, ie our little group and the few other regulars that seem to enjoy listening in on our efforts.
Last week found an impromptu reunion for me with some members of a choir that I attended for a number of years, from about 2009-2012. The choir was called the I Choir had a particular focus on including people struggling with their mental health and the people that turned up at the pub last Tuesday were myself, Richard, Brenda and Luke who where in the choir at the same time. For a while it had a really good vibe going and made for a safe place for me to go and let rip with songs such as The Lion Sleeps tonight otherwisw known as Wim-Away (a number incidentley that the ukulele group play and always gets everyone going). As well as meeting every week and the very occasional performance at health and community related events we went away together for a few short holidays, to Wales and Northumberland. At this time any strange environment would terrify me, a bit like now- and my world was much reduced because of it. I don’t think I was the only one in the choir who would have been unable to organise a trip out of Liverpool. Fortunately there were others more sorted who took on the lion’s share of the organising. One such person was Brenda who took on the role of chef for the trips, buying the food and planning the recipes. Eating together was a challenge for me at the time, but the chopping of veg and chatting or not over these tasks was an important way to feel included in the holiday. Brenda always made her sunny outlook on life available to anyone who came in the kitchen. Brenda and Richard still sing together in Liverpool Voice and I went to see them perform recently at the palm House, Brenda has a big folksy voice and she sang a solo, chatting briefly afterwards she said she would come down to see what we got up to on a Tuesday and sure enough, this week came along to see what it was all about. It was lovely to see her and sing together but the biggest surprise was seeing Luke who had turned up for the first time- on the recommendation of Paul, another regular at the session altogether hence the title of the blog.
I know the choir world and mental health world is quite small in the city but still it must have been a good five years since we had met up and it felt to me quite special. We got to reminiscing about those days and the holidays in particular were acknowledged as high points. Brenda used to take her grandson Josh on the trips away and in a cramped house in Wales near Abersoc, Josh, myself and Luke were bunked in together. This was until we settled down to sleep on the first night and realised that Luke snored so loud-it was like some-one sawing a log with a bow saw! Myself and Josh both decamped to another room in an attempt to get some kip-we ended up sleeping on the couches downstairs for the rest of the night. In the morning, Josh and I were feeling awkward, not knowing how to explain the situation without upsetting Luke. I can’t remember how exactly it was resolved (probably with Brenda/grandma’s intervention) but i can still see Luke’s apologetic face now-he had lived on his own for quite some time and just didn’t know he snored at all, well how would you.
Myself, Luke and Richard did another creative music project some time afterwards and I discovered Luke had a great skill with words and poetry, from such a quiet fella powerful words and expressive language came forth, I remember being both surprised and quite a bit jealous. It was lovely to see him again and although we didn’t chat loads, I am hopeful that he will return on future Tuesdays and we can become friendly with each other again. At the end of the session Brenda offered a lift to both Richard and Luke as they all live nearby- it’s what she always did on choir night, but today she wasn’t driving, her grandson Josh, now twenty! had dropped her off at the pub and was picking her up too.
It has been helpful to me, dare i say therapeutic, to collect my thoughts about nice people who have come into my life over the years, at difficult times yet despite their own challenges have made me feel ok about myself. One more update on the pub; they are now officially the most dog friendly pub in the northwest of England, they even sell dog beer!