Actress and singer Dame Patricia Routledge joined the choir from McCarthy & Stone’s Park House retirement development at the Royal Voluntary Service’s Christmas Sing Your Heart Out concert in London.
It was proof, should it be required, that life is full of surprises and, in this case, that moving into a retirement complex offers a world of friendship and activities that you might never experience elsewhere.
Just ask the choir at Churchill Retirement Living’s Dean Lodge near Bournemouth, where members have just released a single and their own video on YouTube to raise money for charity – of which more later.
Back at the Grosvenor Chapel in Knightsbridge, The Sing Your Heart Out campaign had choirs from all over Britain performing in aid of the Royal Voluntary Services, a charity that works to prevent isolation among older people.
Among them was McCarthy & Stone’s Park House choir with 29 members aged from 79 to 92, who all live at the Hertfordshire retirement development.
Set up by resident Audrey Jenkins, its members meet weekly to practise and entertain other residents.
“I have been a church organist, choir trainer and piano accompanist for many years, teaching a large number of private students, but this was by far the most exciting thing I’ve been involved in,” says Audrey.
“It was a real honour and a pleasure; something I will never forget!” Choir member Brian Freeman, 78, adds: “We are not averse to doing comedy items as part of our weekly performances at the development, and we have been known to create a bit of a commotion with everyone laughing about how much they enjoyed the show.”
Clubs set up and run by residents are typical of McCarthy & Stone and the London performance rounded off six weeks of Sing Your Heart Out events at their developments across the country to raise money for the Royal Voluntary Service.
To date this has raised more than £200,000 for the charity.
It’s a similar story at Churchill Retirement Living’s Dean Lodge, where members of the choir have learned to use the latest video technology to film themselves singing their Christmas single Ring The Bells, which they are selling in aid of charities for the elderly.
Aged from 62 to 92, the choir learned how to use GoPro cameras and selfie sticks to film themselves for a YouTube video, with proceeds from the single’s sales going to the Churchill Foundation and Silver Line.
Dame Esther Rantzen, who launched the Silver Line helpline for older people, says she is delighted and adds: “I think it’s wonderful that this choir has embraced modern technology and taken on such an exciting challenge by filming their own pop video.”
Choir master Ali Sharpe, 62, who lives at Dean Lodge with her husband Bob, decided to write a Christmas song for the choir last year and says: “We’ve all been thrilled to be given the opportunity to record it and to film our video. It’s been a wonderful experience.”
Churchill’s Dean Lodge and McCarthy & Stone’s Park House developments are now sold out but both companies have new developments just built or in the pipeline.
Not far from Park House is McCarthy & Stone’s Isabella House in Hertford, where one-bedroom apartments are available to reserve off-plan from £359,995 (0800 201 4811; mccarthyandstone.co.uk).
The over-60s development of one and two-bedroom flats will have a Club Lounge with free wifi, patio area and landscape gardens.
Churchill’s Rothesay Lodge in Highcliffe, near Bournemouth, also has one and twobedroom flats available to reserve off-plan (0800 458 1856; churchillretirement.co.uk).
The development will have an Owners’ Lounge with wifi and an on-site lodge manager.