We would like to help and promote our one of our partners' Options Wellbeing event.  For more information please see flyer below: 

This Networking and Discovery event is taking place on Thursday 30 June 2022, 11:00 – 14:00 at the Options Wellbeing therapy hub in Shirley.
 
Come along and find out more about our services and speak with other health and wellbeing professionals in the city.
 
There will be a ribbon-cutting and speeches from 11am.
 
Light refreshments will be available on the day.
 
There are limited spaces available - you can secure your space here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/relaunch-of-options-wellbeing-networking-discovery-event-tickets-352491630957

The book form is online here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfVZIaReidPsvww_c9MGibRrEb5kbYjGdfqvWgzu_fUsx22xw/viewform

A quick reminder follow-up on our Open Day. We will be opening our doors with an invitation to all interested on Wednesday 4th May.  Please arrive from 10.30am for registration and refreshments.  The first activity will start at 11.00.  The event will finish 15.00- 15.30.  Please note that Mindfulness is the first activity which requires no noise for total relaxation in the session, so if interested in joining in, please arrive at 10.30.  Others wishing to be involved with the quiz please arrive promptly at 12.00 after the Mindfulness session for registration.

Our itinerary for the day is as follows:

11.00-12.00 Mindfulness
12.00-12.30 Quiz
12.30-1.30 Buffet lunch (complimentary with refreshments)

Then the following activities will be going on at the same time so that people can dip in and out of each experience to see which workshops they would be interested in after registration:

13.00-15.00 (15.30)
Gardening
Core Art Journaling
Painting
Card Making
Photography
Hand pampers

NEW PEOPLE
This is a good time for new people to start so spread the word but do get people to contact in advance at maggie@naturalvoice.net for more information and to book a free taster session


We will keep on informally , revising old tunes, learning some new ones. Putting together a playlist of performing songs , slowly starting to work towards a summer performance.
Outdoor performance to be organised for Summer term (possibly Mottisfont or Tools for Self Reliance which would be very appropriate for some African songs )

SONGS
Bird songs ; The Lark it sang melodious… Hear the sweet birds sing , Cuckoo round, 3 little birds

We will sing May the road rise with you ( Music by Nickomo words traditional Celtic Blessing) again and revise the final section a few more times to establish it .
And go back to May you see diamonds By Ali Burns that we were singing before lockdown. ( attached below)
And how many of you remember Up above my head? ( Gospel song from Southern States of America)
We’ll also dig out I can hear a train a comin’ ( Nickomo)

Lets learn We got all the love , by Helen Yeomans
And I learnt several inspiring songs at the Natural Voice Gathering I would like to teach

Alison has got a barbershop tag to teach and would like to revive Hazrat Bibi and learn an Arabic chant ( both Nickomo’s Harmonic Temple) and more!

And maybe we will use some more of the songs we learnt in the Zoom group ( Force of love... Mother Julian of Norwich and Penny Stone and the Gospel song Move when the spirit says move
Requests for other songs welcome

SHAPE OF SESSION NB Earlier Start 7.15pm for a chat ... 7.30 singing start
I have had general feedback that people like finishing at 9pm. And it would be good to have more singing time So NB earlier start time
7.15- 7.30 informal chat time
7.30- 8.15 sing
8.15- 8.25 break outside
8.25- 9 pm sing
Bring your own hot drinks

FEES 10 week term ending 7th April
Blue Sky is a community of singers, we all need each other to sing in harmony. The sessions run no matter how many people turn up and we need to pay the hall rental, licences for songs, public liability insurance, and for the time and expertise and ongoing professional development of the teachers. So we need a steady guaranteed income in order to keep the sessions going.
This term we ask for 1 payment of £30 at the start of term and another of £30 half way through. ie in total 10 sessions @ £6 per session.
If you’re hard up then 2 payments of £20 over the term is OK
£7 per individual session ( if you are hard up £5)
( if this is a problem for you , come and talk to me. No one should be excluded because of the cost. )

WHAT WE OFFER
The Natural Voice approach to singing , www.naturalvoice.net with the belief that everyone can sing, that singing is our birthright , that expressing yourself through song is more important than worrying what sound you make ( and it probably sounds much better than you think)
· An accepting and supportive environment for anyone who wants to sing.
· No auditions, just come and sing, people with less experience or confidence supported by the rest of the group
· Friendly group , companionship, fun.
· Health Benefits of singing together which can lift depression, and relieve stress.
· Songs taught by ear, no need to read music or have any previous experience
You will not have to sing by yourself.
· The joy of hearing unaccompanied voices in glorious harmony and being part of it
· A few stretches and voice exercises to get the vocal chords warmed up.
· Opportunities for exploring your voice, experimenting with different ways of singing
· Occasional informal community performances.
· Covid precautions as judged appropriate.
WE SING
· Songs to inspire, soothe, delight and amuse , raise you up, calm you down
Feel good songs with positive messages , Easy songs , and some more challenging ( but worth the effort)
· Appreciating and Honouring Songs from other cultures, increasing our knowledge and understanding of the world we share .

We’re pleased to let you know that the theme for this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week 2022 is ……… “Loneliness”.

The week will run from Monday 9th May until Sunday 15th May 2022 and will raise awareness of the impact of loneliness on our mental wellbeing, as well as the practical steps that can be taken to address it.

Loneliness affects millions of people in the UK every year and has had a huge impact on our mental health during the pandemic.

That is why we have chosen it as our theme for Mental Health Awareness Week 2022. Our connection to other people and our community is fundamental to protecting our mental health and we need to find better ways of tackling the epidemic of loneliness. We can all play a part in this.
Mental Health Awareness Week was started by the Foundation more than two decades ago and has now grown to become one of the UK’s most recognised campaigns. It has helped transform awareness of mental health and grow understanding of how we can improve mental health, both as individuals and as a society.

​We hope you join us again in May for the 2022 campaign

Our Founder, Frances Heather has quoted the following:
"I have a passion to do something pro-active for the dreadful world situation. I have many memories about my time in Albania supporting some of the 15,000 refugees who were living around the swimming pool in Tirana during the Kosovo war. I had the privilege of running a charity in Albania since 1997 and we were one of the first charities back in Kosovo and we built up a clinic there which used to be one of Mother Teresa's clinics in the past. My husband Ron and I have travelled widely in Eastern Europe since the Berlin Wall came down. People from Eastern Europe are some of the most hospitable people in the world and yet, often they have the least. They have always been in my heart. Let us do what we can to help."

"Please share widely about my fund-raising event and support it if you can. Help with goods for sale and/or cake would be welcome. Please share on social media & with your contacts."