Entertainment: Shine Your Light: a fully accessible choir for adults with disabilities & health conditions

Shine Your Light Choir is Brighton and Hove’s first pan-disability choir for adults with disabilities and health conditions of all kinds, and carers. Supported by Scope and People’s Health Trust, the organisers felt that more could be done to help all disabled people access the health benefits of singing.

There is a fun article on the BBC website which discusses some of the benefits in fact: including how singing can get more oxygen into the blood, increase feelgood hormones and improve mental health (www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zcc7tyc). Josephine, a wheelchair user involved in Shine Your Light who has Fibromyalgia, says that even when in a lot of pain she feels better after singing.

I joined a choir for the first time myself this year and had a great time with a friendly gang so can personally recommend the giving it a go. Shine Your Light offers a safe space to enjoy your voice, connect with others and simply have fun.

The songs are taught by ear so there is no need to be able to read music. The choir is led by Natural Voice Practitioner Hannah-Rose Tristram, an organisation which aims to do away with some people’s notion that they are “non-singers” due to previous experiences of criticism and judgment. The venue has level access and an accessible toilet and kitchen, and the choir sing simple, uplifting songs of various moods and genres so everyone should feel welcome.

Shine Your Light Choir, Hove Methodist Church, Portland Road, Tues 14 June 12-2pm, Drop-in £5/£4 conc. Non-participating supporter free. Contact harriet.cavanagh@scope.org.uk or
07436 830997 to discuss access or other requirements.
Sessions may continue in the summer, search Shine Your Light Choir on Facebook for information about sessions after 28th June.