As legacy from 110 Skibbereen Girls project in 2018, a staff choir has continued at Skibbereen Hospital Campus since July 2018, beginning with just 6 staff members (nurses, administrators, mental health professionals and care assistants), meeting weekly on Monday lunchtimes and now in 2019 there are 17 proud choir members.
About every six weeks, the choir performed for the residents and staff of Skibbereen Day Care Centre and Skibbereen Community Hospital, and Parrott House (Mental Health Unit). We showcased some of our repertoire for the administrative staff at a retirement party as well. Just sharing music in all the spaces of the campus seemed to bring a different atmosphere of joy throughout. What seemed to work best was a weekly drop-in session, learning one song each time, so if some participants could only come to one or two, they seemed to experience the same benefits of the consistent members.Choral Director, Liz Clark
Following requests from staff, Clonakilty Hospital Campus Choir was piloted for 6 weeks to measure the level of interest. The project concluded with a performance at an outdoor garden party for residents and staff. A second term is planned for the autumn and support has been offered by HSE Mental Health and Wellbeing to evaluate the local feasibility of both choirs going forward with reference to the acknowledged benefits cited in Sing while you work: the wellbeing benefits of workplace choirs by Dr Hilary Moss, Jessica O’Donoghue, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at University of Limerick, 2018. This is the first study of workplace choirs in Ireland and one of very few studies internationally to explore the health and wellbeing benefits of choirs for Health Service Staff.
If you are working in either Skibbereen Hospital Campus or Clonakilty Hospital, drop us a line to find out when your next lunchtime choir session is. Everyone is welcome