new online singing session in Welsh will be the next development from the Goldies Cymru Charity.
When Covid forced closure of all live daytime sessions across South Wales, the Charity’s positive response was to go online with regular www.goldieslive.com fun Sing&Smile sessions last Spring. These then grew to be twice weekly at 11am on Tuesdays and Thursdays taken by two popular Goldies Cymru session leaders, Rachel Parry and Cheryl Davies.
Grenville Jones is the Goldies founder. He said;
“Our Charity brings joy to older isolated people through good old-fashioned fun singalongs. If our work was important prior to Lockdown then the added increase of isolation makes our work vital. Older folk obviously could not attend any more our 60 daytime sessions across Wales and so we took our sessions to them in their front rooms, Sing&Smile on your sofa!”
Through last year sessions developed with the introduction of screen words, Bollywood songs and inserted public health information videos and gentle chair exercise. Many age-support organisations and residential homes have promoted the twice weekly www.goldieslive.com sessions that are available on YouTube and Facebook.
On Monday March 1, St David’s Day, Goldies Cymru will introduce new monthly sessions in the Welsh language, taken by Sian Francis, accessible from 11am. These have been made possible by the support of the Moondance Foundation.
Sian was born in the South Wales valleys and now lives in Cardiff with her husband and two children. She has had a love for music since an early ago and grew up competing in Eisteddfodau and in local musical theatre productions. Later in life she went on to complete a BMus from Goldsmiths University where she studied Classical Music and Opera. She also spent many years working as an entertainer onboard cruise liners.
She has a passion for Welsh language music and is very excited to start her sessions with Goldies.
Sian said;
“I’m looking forward to singing with older people across Wales and over the months ahead I will be using some of our wonderful Welsh melodies as well as introducing some new ones.
“Please join me on St David’s Day.”
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