Singing For Water

[caption id="attachment_6049" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Sing for Water West - at the morning's rehearsal[/caption]

Blues skies and wall to wall sunshine met our choir of 1,000 voices all gathered for Sing for Water West in Bristol on Saturday. At least 39 community choirs were represented, with wonderful names like Sing Aloud, The Wiltshire Wailers (my choir - yay!) and Gasworks.

The geographical spread of choristers included Devon, Portsmouth, Abergavenny, Stroud and Birmingham, so we covered more than just the West! Everyone wore blues and greens to represent the watery theme of our fundraising and songs.

The hot sunshine meant we were soon queuing to top up our water supplies from the stand pipes provided - a neat reminder of why we had gathered to support WaterAid. Thankfully our water was clean, cool and available just a few yards away, not the dirty, tepid water often situated miles away from the billion people who have no choice but to use it.

You may be wondering from the above picture if anyone turned up to hear us. Well, I did spot Mark Charlton and his family amongst the crowd, but I was too busy singing away in the afternoon to take any pictures! However, the Bristol Evening Post were there to capture some of the atmosphere - the last picture in their gallery of 10 photos gives you a fair idea of the size of both the audience and choir :)

Two years ago, 850 of us sang and raised over £50,000 for WaterAid. Hopefully when all the monies are in and totted up, we'll have easily topped that figure after such an exhilarating day!

Update: Someone's asked who's reporting on this story - I can reveal it was yours truly, your Community Link-Up editor aka smithsnews :)

Come, Listen to the Choir

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="320"] Sing for Water West in 2009[/caption]

Bristol Harbourside is the place to be on Saturday afternoon (6th July 2013) when Sing for Water West comes to town!

A massed choir of 1,000 voices drawn from community choirs across the south-west will gather to perform watery themed songs to raise money for WaterAid.

Busking starts at lunchtime when the big choir splits into its individual ones to show off their own talents after the morning's rehearsal .

At 1pm, the Tropical Discovery Marquee opens for kids of all ages and then the singers assemble at 3pm for THE BIG SING! The song selection includes hits by Rihanna and Carly Simon, plus gospel, African and Georgian vibes.

At 4pm the WOMAD stage opens, with 3 world artists set to perform. To round things off Harbour cruises on The Matthew are available at 12pm, 1pm and 4.30pm.

Your blog's editor, plus Group Communications Director Mark Charlton's wife will be singing their socks off on the day! It's a wonderfully relaxed, family oriented event and it would be great to see you there!

If you're wondering what a choir of 1,000 sounds like, take a look at the video here from Sing for Water West in 2011. That was a choir of 850 - 1,000 will be awesome!

Disco Divas

[caption id="attachment_2641" align="alignleft" width="300"] Marie Kirvan and family[/caption]

Newcastle House have again been busy raising pots of cash. This time it was from their Disco, Games and Raffle night held at the British Legion Social Club in Gateshead on April 5th.  Marie Kirvan and the team from Customer Service ensured the evening was a complete success, raising £790 in the process for their chosen charity, the Newcastle branch of Marie Curie Cancer Care.

[caption id="attachment_2642" align="alignright" width="300"] Bob Beat presents Susan Bowes with her prize[/caption]

There were around 45 attendees on the night, including family members. Susan Bowes looks very pleased to have won the first prize of a 42 inch TV in the raffle!

Newcastle House have certainly been very busy with their fundraising. Let us know how you're getting along by completing a Publicity Form.

Gigs and gardens for MSC

Worcester MSC have stepped it up a gear with their fundraising and community work.  They held a gig on 23 June at the Marrs Bar in Worcester in aid of their charity, Acorns.

The 3 bands - Arturo, FTB and Hades the Cat - all played for free on the night and all door donations were collected for Acorns.  The bands all had current or ex Smiths News staff as members.  They raised a wonderful £210 on the night.

[caption id="attachment_1050" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="At the Marrs Bar"][/caption]

They also got a group together to start a gardening project at Acorns.  They were asked to hire a skip and clear away 18 months' worth of garden waste!  2 skips later they'd managed to clear the debris.  The gardening project is ongoing, with the MSC 'adopting' an area of Acorns garden to upkeep on a regular basis.  They have big plans for their plot, including composting the garden waste and screening it off with a trellis.  They also plan to raise more funds to pay for fencing and some apple trees.

[caption id="attachment_1051" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Working at Acorns"][/caption]

The helpers in the garden were: Vicky Wheeldon and her sons Jamie and Sam, Mark Falcon, Darren Clark, Andy Walls, Laura McDonald, Andy Wheeldon, Tracey Harper and her daughter Chloe.

[caption id="attachment_1057" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Getting stuck in!"][/caption]

Bristol Group keep busy

[caption id="attachment_724" align="alignleft" width="229" caption="Check out the inscription on this bad bunny..."][/caption]

Bristol Group have had a busy April and their fundraising total is now well over £2,000. 

Most recently they held an Easter Raffle which raised £339.  And no wonder – Jon Newport, Brislington Day Pack Manager, approached local businesses for some great prizes, which included a Sat Nav, a bag of Camping Goodies and a special Easter bunny from Thorntons.

[caption id="attachment_725" align="alignright" width="188" caption="Alec Moody"][/caption]

Alec Moody, Bristol North Pack Line Manager, dressed up as a ‘Lady for the Day’.  His colleagues gave him £250 in total for the fun of seeing him in a skirt.

Dave Bellotti, Brislington Day Pack Supervisor, showed off his musical talent to everyone – he sang 3 songs in the warehouse and raised £135.  Watch out X-Factor!

They also held a sweepstake for the Grand National which raised £70, and to date the Bacon Buttie sales have reached £228.

Not bad going!

[caption id="attachment_726" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Dave Bellotti"][/caption]