A group of musicians are spreading Christmas cheer by singing songs on the doorstep for London’s vulnerable and isolated people.
People can nominate a friend or family member for a visit and the team at Give a Song will turn up and play two or three songs to lift the spirits.
Started during the pandemic, the group now numbers 30 musicians ranging from guitar players to saxophone and violin players.
“Christmas is about togetherness, music, giving and joy which is what we try to capture in our visits. There is nothing I’d like rather be doing over the festive season,” said founder Chloe Edwards-Wood.
On one recent visit, Edwards-Wood visited a woman living with dementia, at the request of her son, who also cares for her. Soon after the musicians started their renditions of Three Little Birds by Bob Marley and Ben E King’s Stand By Me, the woman came into her front garden and started to dance.
“Afterwards her son said, ‘She told me she had awful arthritis and couldn’t move, now look at her – music is magic’,” Edwards-Wood said.