I help young people in music with the formation of the local church, St John the Divine, Kennington’s Boys’ Choir. I guide and encouraging the boys into thinking that, at least for them, singing is the easiest thing to be good at in the world; even if they struggle elsewhere in life or at school, they are in the choir because they can and want to sing. They don’t need to practise at home, there’s no homework, and they are part of a team; all they need to do is come to one rehearsal a week, open their mouths and sing. It’s a ready-made social safety net for them. And they even get to run around and play football from time to time…
The SJDK choirs will make their second visit to Cambridge in July for a residential summer course. Last year’s visit was a great success. The children got so much out of their time in Cambridge. It was the beginning of the process of learning how to be choristers in one of the major bastions of choral singing and having a lot of fun along the way.