Beating the winter blues
Last week, CLS musicians made two very special visits to brighten the days of patients at the Royal London Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital.
At the Royal London, CLS has partnered with Vital Arts, the arts organisation for Barts and The London NHS Trust, which delivers arts projects for the well-being of patients, staff and the wider hospital community. So far, we have had four sessions, working on two elderly wards of the hospital, with two CLS musicians playing for patients in their beds. Our last session, on Wednesday of last week, featured Christmas favourites and war-time songs including Lambeth Walk, It's a Long Way to Tipperary and We'll Meet Again. The session was almost cut short, due to one of the wards being closed to visitors because of a sickness bug, but we improvised and spent the remaining time in two of the hospital's waiting areas. This proved to be a great success, spreading the Christmas cheer far beyond the two wards we planned to visit. The success of our final session means that we will be be continuing the partnership with Vital Arts in 2011, planning a series of visits to provide music in hospital waiting areas and the elderly wards.
Our weekly session at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) had a special Christmas feel for the end of term last week. We've been working with the Hospital School at GOSH for the past 12 years, and currently two musicians visit the wards and the school every Thursday during term time. Last week, children in the Hospital's Activity Centre created their own Christmas rap, with the help of CLS musicians and some stellar percussion playing by nurses and teaching assistants. From January we will be spending more time on the wards,reaching more children and their families who always welcome the distraction and smiling faces of our musicians.
Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday season. Look out for lots of updates in early January from the Cartagena International Music Festival in Colombia.
-Gillian, CLS Education Manager