Bridgend Singing Group

In February 2019 the Bridgend Singing Group formed following a 10-session trial kickstarted by our Acorn Fund in 2018. Thanks to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Fund, Bridgend Farmhouse was able to host a series of 19 two-hour afternoon workshops as well as a Singing Weekend run by Edinburgh-based facilitators Darla Eno and Tamsin Wates.
Over six months the group expanded and solidified, attracting a wide range of people and exploring a diverse repertoire of songs. Participants, some with little prior experience of singing were introduced to a wide range of singing material, from a Lebanese lament, to a Gaelic fairie song, an olde English midsummer song, an ‘afropean’ rhythmic song, rock ‘n’ roll, and a Bulgarian courting song.

Participants singing their own lyrics

The project culminated in ‘Bridgend Sings’, a weekend exploring community and home through song ​consisting of two 4-hour workshops, with a Georgian-style celebratory ‘supra’ feast on the Saturday  and a shared lunch prepared by our kitchen volunteers.

On the Sunday, there was the opportunity for participants to write ​lyrics which reflected their experience of the weekend workshop at the farmhouse which were then collated to create one song, in which everyone’s lyrics were sung by a chorus of voices. Some of the lyrics included:

Home is where the heart is and it's here today
Bridgend offers each one with love, joyous harmony
Singing in community, eating a lovingly prepared feast with good people
Space to talk, space to grieve, space to hear the birds sing
Receiving healing through music, feeling so much gratitude
Time to live in deep truth, in faith we know the way