As a guest representing Making Music, it was a delight to join this very friendly chorus for the day and to be guided through the work by NLC patron...
Heather Marsh, Chair of Wetherby Choral Society, describes how her group worked with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution for their mutual benefit and that of the wider community.
Background
2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the Wetherby Choral Society (WCS), a non-auditioning community choir of over 100 members. Under the enthusiastic direction of our talented Music Director (MD) John Dunford, we enjoy making music of a high standard and perform typically four major concerts per year in our home venue of St James’ Church, Wetherby. To mark the special occasion of our 50th anniversary we chose a sea theme, mirroring that of the choir’s very first concert.
The challenge
At a very early stage we realised that this nautical concert offered the ideal opportunity to team up with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), especially as they are celebrating their 200th anniversary throughout 2024 with a 'Sing to Save Lives' campaign. This campaign uses the power of music to celebrate the role of its volunteers, and encourage the next generation of supporters to come.
The challenge was, of course, how to bring two charities together to work towards a joyous, celebratory concert that would benefit them both on both the promotional and artistic sides.
'The challenge was, of course, how to bring two charities together to work towards a joyous, celebratory concert that would benefit them both...'
What we did
Agreeing our objectives
In the first instance, we got in touch with Clive Rand, a supporter of our choir for many years who was also the Chair of the RNLI West Yorkshire business branch at the time, and now a Vice-President of the charity.
For the choir, the objective was to create a joint and memorable concert to mark our 50th anniversary as well as take part in the RNLI’s 'Sing to Save Lives' bicentenary celebration. For the RNLI, the objective was to raise awareness for the brave work of its volunteers who risk their own lives to save others at sea.
As a community choir we were not in a position to give financial support to the RNLI. The RNLI appreciated this fully, as their main objective was raising awareness – of course, welcoming any donations the audience might want to give at the end of the concert.
From the outset, Clive assured the choir that the RNLI did not wish to take over the concert, recognising that it was primarily a celebration of the choir’s 50 years. His appreciation and willingness to collaborate made working with the RNLI a joy, as we created a constructive relationship between our two charities.
Poster for the WCS & RNLI 'Behold: the Sea!' concert
Coordinating our approach
This kicked off many months of planning and video meetings, brainstorming and sharing ideas, alongside RNLI Branch Secretary Susan Ward who contributed to the meetings and maintained minutes. We settled on the following ‘to-dos’:
- The RNLI making available to us its logo and iconic photographs, for use in posters and flyers as well as for promotional digital media
- The RNLI contributing a written piece and photographs about its work in the opening pages of the choir’s 50th Anniversary Souvenir Concert Programme
- Addition of the communal hymn Eternal Father Strong to Save as the opening piece of music in the concert, in recognition of its relevance to seafarers, the RNLI and 'those in peril on the sea'
- Agreement regarding the actions and responsibilities of all those involved, both leading up to the concert and also on the day of the concert itself.
We considered plans for a pop-up RNLI stall at the back of the church, but that had to be shelved due to space considerations. Instead, we arranged for the sale of pin badges and for collection buckets at the end of the concert.
On the day
Excitement mounted as the day of the concert approached. The RNLI flag was proudly hoisted up St James’ Church flagpole to welcome everyone to the concert. The church foyer also hosted pull-up promotional RNLI banners along with a 60-year old vintage model of a life-size RNLI volunteer. Our musicians also eagerly wore the iconic RNLI yellow welly badges!
The iconic RNLI yellow welly badges
As the audience arrived, a silent PowerPoint presentation scrolled through historical photographs of the RNLI, as well as those of current lifeboats and lifeboat crew.
Clive Rand delivered a warm and thought-provoking introduction to the concert, encouraging the audience to think about the RNLI and its amazing volunteers. He wished the choir many happy returns in celebrating their 50th, many happy returns to the RNLI for its 200th and poignantly wished that all RNLI volunteers would have many happy returns from their call-outs to save lives at sea.
Our MD John Dunford wove his magic, masterfully conducting everyone to achieve a thrilling evening. What followed was a brilliant programme including Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, Elgar’s Sea Pictures and Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony, performed incredibly by a large orchestra of accomplished players, the three renowned soloists, and our own fantastic choir.
What we’ve learned
This enthralling sea-themed concert created a marvellous 'feel good' factor for everyone – planners, performers and audience alike! As well as raising awareness for the RNLI and their brave volunteers, I really feel that their involvement added a special dimension to the evening for everyone. Plus the retiring collection for the RNLI raised a magnificent sum of over £600!
We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Alastair Marsh for his excellent photography. His top-quality images of the event have made such a difference to this blog and also, of course, are an important historical archive of the choir’s 50th anniversary concert.
MD John Dunford, soloists, orchestra and choir smile after the concert
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For any group that’s looking to work with another organisation, here are our top tips for a successful collaboration:
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Find out more about the Wetherby Choral Society on their website and follow them on Facebook
Find out more about the RNLI’s 'Sing to Save Lives' initiative and how your choir can take part by staging its own sea-themed concert
Our corporate member ChoirCommunity is also supporting the RNLI initiative by providing a library of suitable repertoire from which choirs can build a concert programme
We hope you find this Making Music resource useful. If you have any comments or suggestions about the guidance please contact us. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the content of this guidance is accurate and up to date, Making Music do not warrant, nor accept any liability or responsibility for the completeness or accuracy of the content, or for any loss which may arise from reliance on the information contained in it.
