22 Dec 2022 Community

The Kirkwood Patients enjoy Christmas Sing-Along

The Kirkwood Chorus has been one of our big success stories of 2022, and to round the year off Alan Rudkin, from renowned music therapy charity Nordoff Robins visited our Dalton site to give our patients on the In-Patient Unit, our staff and visitors a chance to take part in a Christmas special festive sing-along.

Alan has done a fantastic job to make the sessions fun and interactive for our service users and has created a real energy with which our patients have enjoyed, making everyone feel comfortable when attending either The Kirkwood Chorus or individual music therapy sessions he provides.

The Kirkwood’s Senior Occupational Therapist Elspeth McGloughlin said of the fantastic event: “The festive favourites sing along was a way of bringing some festive fun to the staff, patients and visitors at the main Dalton site.

“We are really lucky every year that we have visiting singers and choirs that come and perform helping to spread Christmas cheer.

“This year we thought we would recruit the skills or our very talented music therapist Alan Rudkin and make the event a bit more interactive for the audience by having it as a singalong.

“Alan works on our in-patient unit delivering incredible music therapy session to our patients, as well as leading the Kirkwood chorus on a Friday afternoon at Brian Jackson House. We wanted staff and visitors to experience the joy he brings through music to our patient and service users.

“Alan provided a session filled with festive favourites, where staff, visitors and patients joined in to have a fun filled hour, followed by coffee and mince pies.

“These sessions are always really positive, bringing staff and patients together to celebrate Christmas, helping develop that sense of community and collaboration, for staff, providing a reminder of what our work is about and for patients and visitors ensuring that they feel welcomed, supported and part of The Kirkwood movement.”