Sussex Aphasia Chorus
Hear our Strokecast about Sussex's very own 'Singing in the Rain choir' and how it is helping stroke survivors with aphasia, a type of communication difficulty.
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002: Sussex Aphasia Choir
Find out more about the Aphasia Chorus in Sussex, made up of stroke survivors with communication difficulties
Text version of the podcast:
This episode features Rich and Helen from The Stroke Association, as well as community musician and nurse, Lou. Paul Reeves is a local businessman
‘Singing In The Rain’ is heard being sung by the choir in the background.
Rich: Hello and welcome to another Strokecast. Today, we’re down in Sussex to meet an aphasia chorus made up of stroke survivors with communication difficulties. Here’s Helen Simmonds, Communications Support Coordinator, to explain more.
Helen: Well it’s really a lovely singing group and it’s an opportunity for people with aphasia from the Crawley and the Cuckfield Communication groups to join together and make music in a really relaxing, fun environment. Usually numbers are about 27 each time, we might have a few more today, and it’s open to anyone who’s in the Communication groups and their family members.
Lou Beckerman is facilitating it and she is…right from the start when I first had the idea I knew that Lou would be the right person to do this. She’s absolutely brilliant and very talented at facilitating groups and has had a lot of experience in hospitals with people who have had a stroke.
Lou: My name is Lou Beckerman and I work as a community musician; I’m also a nurse as well. I’ve been involved with music all my life; coming from a musical family. I trained as a nurse and just took music for granted and didn’t really intend to go into it professionally, but it was always there.
Some years ago I was approached to run a project at the Princess Royal Hospital for people who were recovering from strokes. It was great actually; I think we did two projects with people who had very recently had strokes. It was just found that singing was another way that people could surprise themselves by being able to communicate. People understand that maybe their communication is difficult through speaking and through conversation, but suddenly all the words, all the lyrics of song were there and coming out fluently, and that gives people confidence to try more with their voices and also exercises the vocal muscles.
‘Here Comes the Sun’ is heard being sung by the choir.
Rich: Now, projects such as the Aphasia Chorus in Sussex could not take place without some financial backing. In this case it came from a local business.
Paul: I’m Paul Reeves; I’m a director of a construction company called Elmer Construction. My partner volunteers at the Crawley group and obviously the contact with Helen was made there. I had previously offered some funding because as a business we donate to various charities, but this one was obviously a lot closer to home. I wanted to make some kind of difference, not just giving money. Helen actually said she’d been harbouring this idea for a while and was wanting to get it off the ground. So I said, “What’s it going to cost? I’d really like to make it a reality for you.” For a long time it had been a bit of a dream for her.
‘Singing in the Rain’ is heard in the background.
Paul: Very, very impressed. Didn’t really know quite what to expect; I suppose I thought it might be a little bit more, sort of, ‘choral’. The songs are so, well known songs, and they’re happy songs, and they’ve got a certain amount of meaning to them as well which is an added bonus.
Rich: To find out more about the Aphasia Chorus in Sussex, please contact Helen Simmons on 01444 248942.
