Royal Holloway's award-winning community choir, Holloway Notes, held their end of term concert in the university’s Victorian Picture Gallery.
Holloway Notes
The choir is a space where adults with autism, social anxiety or a learning disability can make music together and they performed songs such as ‘We Are Family’ and ‘There’s a Power in the Music’, in front of family, friends and Councillor Elaine Gill, Mayor of Runnymede, whilst being surrounded by world-class art.
The choir is led by student-volunteers and is seed-funded by LinkAble charity. The concert was originally due to be held in March 2020, had to be postponed due to the pandemic . It featured 40 choir members from Holloway Notes and Wholenotes Choir, a community choir based in Guildford.
Luke Russell, Volunteering Coordinator at Royal Holloway, said: “We are so pleased to have been able to finally hold this wonderful collaborative concert between Wholenotes and Holloway Notes.
“It was great to welcome both choirs to our historic Picture Gallery and I know that our students and choir members thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon.
“We’re very proud of our award-winning, Holloway Notes project at Royal Holloway Volunteering and we hope we can work with Wholenotes at more events in the future.”
Alison Wrigley, Musical Director of the Wholenotes Choir, said: “Wholenotes were delighted to take part in this concert with Holloway Notes in the Picture Gallery at Royal Holloway; It was a very special concert indeed.
“The members felt important being able to perform in such a beautiful place and the family and friends who came to hear us were blown away. Supporting volunteers of the Wholenotes choir thoroughly enjoyed the experience and commented on the professional nature of Royal Holloway and the two choirs. Everyone was well prepared for their performance.
“As musical director of Wholenotes, I could not have been more proud of the choir, as well as being really impressed with Holloway Notes. As a group, we would really like to keep our links going with the university and maybe make this an annual event. I hope we can raise awareness and expectations in society of those with a learning disability; enabling us to change societal views of the capabilities of those who are differently able.”
Holloway Notes continued as a source of comfort and support during the Covid-19 pandemic via weekly online zoom sessions and created performance videos from their homes. They are also an award-winning volunteering initiative at Royal Holloway. The group won the Judge’s Choice Award at the National Societies and Volunteering Awards (NSVA) back in May 2020.
For more information on volunteering at Royal Holloway, click here.
