Charity is going carolling in St Andrew Square this Saturday

The charity Music in Hospitals & Care invites you to join them for some Christmas carols this Saturday 14 December 2019 in St Andrew Square. 

Local community choir Thistle Do Nicely will start the sing-a-long at 3.00pm. Amy Rayner leads the choir and also works as a musician with charity, Music in Hospitals & Care. She said: “Working for Music in Hospitals & Care has really opened my eyes to the experience of being in a hospital or care setting and the positive difference that music can make to someone’s day or even their week! The same goes for when I am teaching my choir, people often mention how uplifted and better they feel after coming along to a choir class. We hope we can help spread some festive cheer whilst raising money for an extremely worthy cause.”

Music in Hospitals & Care was established in 1948 and provides almost 5,000 live music sessions per year, reaching over 90,000 people in healthcare settings. Working with professional musicians, the charity brings the therapeutic benefits of live music to audiences who may not otherwise be unable to access it due to illness or disability. 

Claire Bennett, Director Scotland for the charity said: “We appreciate that Christmas can be a stressful time and as we know the therapeutic effects that live music can have, we thought we would do our best to encourage the public to engage in some restorative singing. As a charity we aim to bring Joy Through Live Music and at this time of year it is particularly appreciated by those who find themselves in hospital and healthcare settings. We are welcoming everyone to come along on the day, whether to join in or just enjoy the festive atmosphere. We are hugely grateful to Essential Edinburgh and St Andrew Square for allowing us to bring this bit of Christmas cheer.”

The charity will also be fundraising at the event to help support its work in Scotland. Over 1,700 live music sessions take place every year in hospitals, hospices, care homes, day centres, special schools and community settings.

There will be collection buckets on the day, or you can support the charity by texting ‘MUSIC 3’ TO 70470 to donate £3 (costs £3 plus a standard network rate message) or by visiting mihc.org.uk