Singing for Community well being

Welcome to this exciting project aimed at bringing singing for well-being into the heart of community.

This page will give you a brief introduction to the project and includes a short video of one of the BIG SING! main events.

To go directly to the most recent updates please click here….

The vision is of a BIG SING! Community widely spread throughout West Cork and carries the message of singing as an inclusive activity, promoting well-being to both the individual and the community. In particular it aims to offer opportunities to those who may have limited access to group singing activities, or who need a particularly sensitive and welcoming environment. This is achieved through:

• Provision of facilitation, training, mentoring and ongoing support for new groups and their leaders where needed.
• Building on connections between the West Cork community and Cork City.
• Bringing activities into community events such as local festivals.

Currently the project is involved with the Clonakilty Wellness Week held in May and the Feelgood Festival in Bantry held in October.

To follow the project, keep updated with details of which choirs  are involved, it’s activities and plans emerging for further BIG SING! events then follow the link at the bottom of this page.

And so the West Cork BIG SING! project was born!!!

It has long been a vision and ambition of mine to bring large groups of voices together in song. It’s the reason I started singing with others and setting up Community Choirs in the first place. The more I have met, studied and sang with so many different individuals and groups of people over the years…and the more I have heard people share what singing has brought to them or how they would love to feel able to sing but don’t…the more I believe this is something so amazing and worthwhile to contribute to community.

With encouragement and support from the West Cork Mental Health Services, during the summer of 2015 I finally put my head, heart and voice into organising the first West Cork BIG SING! which was invited to provide the closing event for the West Cork Feel Good Festival in Bantry for World Mental Health Day.

Over a period of 5 weeks workshops were held in different locations in West Cork to provide the opportunity for people to come along and learn a selection of up-lifting songs chosen especially for the event. My Community Choir Acapellabella in Ballydehob opened their doors to welcome new people in during their rehearsal times, and Ceol Na Laoi – Ballincollig Community Choir also came down to join us for the big event!

Now the project has taken off with ongoing singing workshops as well as support for new community choirs and groups. There are groups in Bantry, Dunmanway, Ballydehob, Castletown Bere, Ballincollig and Kinsale who get involved and participate in some of the events we put on. The project has now been introduced to Clonakilty with a BIG SING! event taking place as part of the Clonakilty Wellness Week held each year in May.

Training for new groups and leaders

I provide training and mentoring for new facilitators and groups to support them whilst they develop and grow. As the project slowly unfolds, more groups will emerge and the training of more facilitators will be needed.If you are interested in using singing within a group context then you may be interested in attending one of my training days to help you build on these skills.

If you are interested in supporting or sponsoring this evolving and inspiring project then please do get in touch.

Thanks and hope to sing with you somewhere!!

To follow this project and find out what is happening next please click here….