March 25, 2015 – York commentary archive site

Young and not so young performers from across York are joining forces this week to stage a celebration of music.

The Big Sing event will be held at New Earswick Folk Hall from 11.45am-2.15pm on Friday 27th March.

Students from York St John University will perform to over 80 care home residents, sheltered housing tenants and their friends and relatives as part of Big Sing event, and residents from the homes will be staging some performances of their own.

The Big Sing event is being organised by the Musical Connections Project which currently runs weekly music sessions in City of York Council’s seven elderly person’s homes and sheltered housing accommodation.

The weekly musical sessions maximise social interactions between residents, incorporating a wide variety of musical genres and will enable residents to learn new songs and styles, contribute to writing songs and use percussion instruments.

Fiona Chapman, the founder of the Musical Connections project, said: “It is a well known fact that both care home residents and sheltered housing tenants are at risk of loneliness, low self-esteem, lethargy and depression, all of which can affect both mental and physical health.
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Children and young people who are being ‘Looked After’ by City of York Council will find it even easier to make their views and wishes known in the future thanks to a new interactive web tool.

The council is using a web-based consultation tool called ‘Viewpoint’ to help children and young people express their wishes, feelings and experiences during their time in care. Viewpoint uses questionnaires with graphics and games to help young people aged five and over to answer questions and think about what they might want to change about their care and support. The tool will also collate and compare the child’s answer to previous responses, highlighting any particularly positive or worrying changes to social care staff.

Nik Flavell, Principal Advisor, Children’s Social Care, City of York Council, said: “Viewpoint represents a significant improvement in consulting with children and young people. While an electronic tool can never take away the importance of face-to-face contact, the interactive nature of the site will help children and young people to consider their care in their own time and in private, helping them to express what is concerning or worrying them, as well as things that are working well. It is part of a real drive to put the voice of the child and young person, their views, wishes and feelings, at the heart of all that is done to care and support them.”