Ruth Collingham has always had a passion for singing. When she moved to Nelson two years ago, she knew she wanted to use her talents to help others. Ruth used to run a singing group in Wellington for a lung disease group and wanted to bring people together when she moved to Nelson. After approaching age concern, ‘Sing yourself well’ was born.
The group exists to bring senior members of the community together once a week to sing together, but Ruth insists that the group isn’t a choir.
“We’re not a choir. We are a group to help those who want to sing, sing. If you’re a great singer, you can join a choir. Our aim is to help people rediscover their voice.”
Ruth says that a large focus for the group is around members ‘re-owning’ their voice and their body. “We usually sing for about an hour, but the point of the group is about social connection.
“It’s just about doing something together, it doesn’t matter what It is, it’s a reason to get people out of the house to connect.”
Singing together is unique though, and Ruth says that with singing, members have to contribute.
“You are actively contributing, because we make you make a noise. You have to produce something, you’re part of a group production.” Singing has health benefits too, especially for older members of the community.
“Singing is great for health, when it comes to breathing and lung exercise.
“I make everyone one who is able stand when they sing, it exercises their core muscles. For some people when they get older, they do less, but people have told us that because I make people put their hands in the air they get some great exercise out of it.”
Another key focus for the group is laughter. “We don’t do a lot of laughing as we get older,” Ruth says.
“We’re quite good at finding things to keep older people occupied but being silly is something we all like. It’s important for everyone no matter their age, and I think that sometimes we forget that.”
he group started running in May 2018, with 3 members. By July the group had grown to include 15 members, and now has a regular group of 30 members.