Music Matters

Inclusive Community Choir

Newsletter – May 2014

Musical Director: Gráinne O’Grady www.facebook.com/inclusivechoir e: inclusivechoir@gmail.com www.facebook.com/musicmatters2012 M: 087-9803020 www.musicmatters.ie www.twitter.com/InclusiveChoir www.musicmatterschoir.blogspot.ie www.meetup.com/Music-Matters-Inclusive-Choir-Dublin

Rehearsal Venue: MACRO Building, 1 Green St, Dublin 7 (Every Wednesday 7.00 – 9.00 PM)

April was an active and interesting month for Music Matters Inclusive Community Choir!

The Forget-Me-Nots, the latest choir directed by Gráinne O’Grady, had their official launch in Baldoyle

Singing at the National Stroke Survivors’ Conference at Croke Park

At the end of April, the Music Matters choirs celebrated our Second Birthday

There was also a Sing-a-Thon – sponsored singing event – at The Beerhouse in Capel St, which raised funds to support Music Matters in covering our weekly operating costs

Forget-Me-Nots Choir: Official Launch On Tuesday 8th April, The Forget-Me-Nots Choir had their Official Launch in Baldoyle Community Hall. Following on from the success of the "Musical Memories" choirs in Deansgrange and Stillorgan, this is the third choir aimed at Older People, especially those with dementia. Some senior staff from Fingal County Council attended the launch, as well as Elayne Devlin, an award-winning documentary maker and producer of "The Late Late Show". She has chosen to record a radio documentary about The Forget-Me-Nots for RTE Radio "Documentary on One".

There was also an intergenerational aspect, as the 4th class from St Laurence’s National School, and their teacher, Ms Kelly, joined in with the festivities. The children performed their own rendition of the Andrew-Lloyd Webber composition “Memory” from “Cats” and joined in with other favourites such as “Que Sera Sera” and “Bring me Sunshine”. They will attend rehearsals on a regular basis. All photographs were taken by Kay Cairns, who has kindly offered her skills and talents to capture so many choral events and concerts. Visit: www.kaycairns.com

The Forget-Me-Nots project relies on funding, donations and fundraising. Donations, volunteers & fundraising always welcomed! The Forget-Me-Nots is proudly supported by: Fingal County Council – Arts Office and The Daily Profit, Baldoyle Print, Crazy Daisy Florist and Morning Fresh Confectionery (all based in Baldoyle). For more info, visit: www.forgetmenots.ie or www.facebook.com/forgetmenotsIE

National Stroke Survivors’ Conference On Thursday 10th April, some members of Music Matters performed at the 2nd Annual Stroke Survivors’ conference. This year, the event moved to the bigger and better venue of the Croke Park Conference Centre in Dublin. Over 250 people attended presentations, interactive workshops and trade demonstrations led by healthcare professionals, support groups and stroke survivors themselves.

We would like to thank Emma-Jane Morrissey from the Irish Heart Foundation for inviting us. Also, thanks to Barry Dempsey, CEO of Irish Heart Foundation, who is a relative of one of our members, Noel Brady, and the volunteers who also posed for photos with us

Music Matters celebrates 2nd Birthday On 25th April 2012, Music Matters Inclusive Community Choir had our first rehearsal in the National League of the Blind of Ireland. Little did we know we would appear on Irish TV - thanks to Margaret Farrelly, of Clonarn Clover & O’Egg Free Range Eggs for her very generous donation on RTE1’s "The Secret Millionaire” Dublin City Council have provided us with our own office space in Smithfield and funding to record our debut album with our friends in Ossia Youth Choir at Axis Ballymun, which has been truly wonderful to all of us. We would like to thank all of our friends and followers, everyone who has provided valuable support through volunteering and fundraising, and of course, our members and their families for their dedication to the choir over the past two years. This photo is of a cake which was made by the amazingly talented Joyanne Rudiak, who returned home to Edmonton in Canada before last Christmas. She is very greatly missed by everyone at Music Matters!

Sing-a-Thon at The Beerhouse On Sunday 27th April, members of Music Matters gathered at The Beerhouse, Capel St, Dublin 1, for the return of our sponsored singing event: The Sing-a-Thon. This was an afternoon event, with music, singing and an Easter-themed raffle at the end. Special thanks to:

The Beerhouse for providing us with a room and a stage

Our volunteers: Aidan, Yessika, Frankie and Elaine

Jennifer Sullivan for her beautiful violin solos

Kay Cairns for coming along to take photographs

All of our audience members and those who bought raffle tickets

Staff at the Macro Community Resource Centre, especially Dave, who promoted our raffle and sold tickets Due to the generosity of our audience members, everyone who bought raffle tickets and everyone who sponsored our members to take part, we raised a grand total of:

€232.54 This will be used towards the weekly operating costs of our inclusive community choirs, and will help us to Share the Joy of Music with ALL!