Spotlight on Cornelly – Jane’s Blog: Sing Your Way to a Better Day

How does singing make you feel?

If you asked a doctor this question, he would probably tell you that in the same way that endorphins are released when exercising, they are also released while singing.

Singing triggers the release of oxytocin, which helps relieve anxiety and stimulates the feel-good chemical that makes us feel better. I am not sure if we really realise how singing can help our mental health.

I have always loved a good sing song, whether that’s in the shower, on a karaoke or singing in the car with the kids, as we did when they were small and it always uplifted me.

I remember sitting on the sofa, in my usual dream land thinking to myself I need a new hobby, I had always considered joining a choir, but not having the best voice, I was nervous of looking for one and taking that step.

However, I wondered why a ladies choir had never been set up in Cornelly, we have had a male voice choir for 50 years, but never a ladies choir.

I thought to myself maybe this was something I could look into, so instead of looking first, I took that step of putting out there and asking people via Facebook whether anyone would be interested. To my surprise I had quite a few responses and thought ok, I can look into this, but like usual I didn’t know where to start.

So for a few weeks I left it, thinking no one would remember what I said, until at the end of August 2019, people were now starting to ask if I had any more information about starting a choir. I thought, right, I am going to have to do something, I was the one that suggested it so it was up to me to get it started.

How the Cornelly Songbirds was formed

I contacted Caroline Jones, the owner of Seasons café in the heart of the village and asked if there was any possibility we could arrange a meeting at the café. She agreed and on a very wet and windy October night we met and Cornelly Songbirds were formed.

I still didn’t know how we were going to set this up properly, where would we get a piano from, where would we get a conductor from, but I had to think of something. That  very first evening we decided this wasn’t going to be your traditional choir, this was going to be a choir for any age, whether you could sing or not, this was going to be a choir to help and enjoy whatever life was throwing at us at this very time.

Caroline suggested we used her TV to sing along to a karaoke version of songs, which was exactly what we did.

It was such a laugh and so much fun, we arranged to meet the next week to do it all again.

We realised after a short time we needed to come up with a different way to sing so I went out, bought a speaker  and an i-Pad and our journey as a choir was beginning. We still hadn’t found a conductor so that was my job for a minute, how had I managed to get myself into this position? I wanted to sing in a choir not conduct. But as time went by and we started to enjoy our little singing group I started to enjoy my role as conductor, visiting other choirs to learn how to improve my skills.

A Grand Opening Event

We had only been together a matter of weeks, when we decided it would be a good idea to do a singalong for when the Christmas lights were due to be switched on, was this a crazy idea? We didn’t have much time to put it together, but we tried anyway. Those couple of weeks were crazy, at this point we had set up a little committee, and our feet didn’t touch the ground.

We started singing Christmas songs, not traditional Christmas songs but fun ones. Boy did we have some laughs. Probably way too many, but one thing stuck out more than anything, and that was how much we were all enjoying our singing. There was so many happy faces, people having fun – it was everything I hoped it would be. The best thing was we were doing ok, we sounded good, we were loving it!

We have members from all walks of life, Ladies who just wanted a bit of time to themselves, Ladies that had been widowed and weren’t used to being on their own and ladies who had experienced the loss of a relative, who were looking for a new hobby.

Our first time of venturing out into the big wide world was on December the 2^nd 2019, we came together at a community tree light ceremony.  We had organised for the children of the local schools to sing, there was a fire engine with Santa on and we hired costumes so Disney characters could mingle with the children, as well as a disco before and after the carols.  We It was truly magical, we really felt part of the community and it was wonderful. It was such a great night and so successful, people were talking about it for weeks later.  More importantly, we had a great time singing and loved supporting and giving back to our community.

The impact of COVID

The beginning of 2020 was exciting, this was the first time we were venturing into songs that weren’t Christmas songs – it was great to try out new songs and we had so many plans for 2020.

Sadly though, by March COVID hit and things changed drastically – having only been together around 5 months it was devastating. We managed to keep in touch via Facebook during this time, but as live singing was one of the last activities to be permitted, it wasn’t until all the restrictions had been removed that we were able to meet up again. I was very worried, after such a long time I wondered if we would get all our members back.

I had no reason to worry as the doors opened for our first practice, in everyone came – it was great – and it’s been great since, thankfully.  We also found a new home to practice weekly at the Cornelly Methodist Church.

Choir member Mair Jones explains how she has benefited from the choir:

“Being a member of the choir is brilliant, everyone is so friendly. I’ve been a member since the first night it started in Seasons café.  I really enjoy Tuesday evenings singing and also enjoy a laugh and a joke with the other members.  Although I have some health issues everyone is so kind. I really appreciate being able to sit down and join in with singing, and I am proud to be a member of ‘the Songbirds’.

Plans for the future

We have now been back together for 12 months, and last summer we did our first ‘family and friends’ concert, which was a success.  We also held another Christmas event this December, indoors this time as it was a bit colder – though our warm mulled wine went down very well!

We are now looking forward to 2023 and to our first invite to perform at the High Tide on the 15^th of March – which is a fundraising event for a new dialysis machine.  We are very much looking forward to perform and proud to support our local community.

I think our little choir has saved a lot of us over the last few years and I look forward to the future.  The Cornelly songbirds are on the Bridgend Mental Health Pathway, we are a great support to those that need a friendly face in a time of need and you don’t need to have a great voice.

We practice at the Cornelly Methodist Church at 7pm on a Tuesday, please come and be part of this amazing ladies choir.