The Forest Singers are a choir from Mansfield in Nottinghamshire and have been performing for more than half a century! What started as a typical singing group, the choir has now evolved to be a key part of the local community, providing a positive and uplifting experience for both its members and those that they perform for. The choir have been raising with easyfundraising for a short while and have raised almost £250 to date. We spoke to Treasurer and choir member Margaret, to find out more about the choir and their fundraising.
Tell us all about The Forest Singers
We are a non-profit making choir that performs at care homes, a local hospice, weddings, funerals as well as performing at concerts. We have been performing for over 50 years and over the years our choir has evolved from being just a choir to a close knit group that supports our members.
A large proportion of our members have physical and mental disabilities such as cerebral palsy, cancer, heart disease and mental impairment, and the choir provides a great comfort and relief, which has become so cherished by us all.
We make a great sound and bring a lot of joy to the people across our community that we entertain. When we go into care homes and our local hospice, we perform all genres of music but also have singalongs with audience participation, picking songs that the audience is familiar with. This gives a sense of purpose to our members and a joyful few hours to our audience, some of which are receiving palliative care.
What does the choir need funding for?
We keep our weekly subscriptions very low so that the members, some of whom are pensioners or living on disability allowance, can still afford to come. So this low subscription does not cover the cost of our musical director, pianist, hire of venue for rehearsal and music.
We do make some money from our biannual concert but we rely on fundraising and grants to stay in the black. As treasurer I am constantly having to think of ways to raise funds in order for us to perform at care homes etc without having to ask for a payment, which sometimes means that we can’t perform. We don’t want to ask for payment as the care homes etc. are on a tight budget also.
Why did you join easyfundraising?
We have a young technical support person, who assists with sound etc. when we perform. They are more -up-to date with all things online, including shopping, and introduced the choir to easyfundraising. We love that it gives everyone connected with the choir the chance to raise for free – the challenge we find is that many of the group are quite senior in age and not always online literate. We get lots of handy resources that easyfundraising provide though and this helps our members to encourage their wider families / friends to support us as well, even if they don’t do much online shopping themselves.
What has the easyfundraising income made possible?
We have used the funding to purchase some new song books and backing music which is more varied and modern.
What are you currently raising for?
We are really keen to visit more care homes to perform our afternoon concerts. We can really feel how much of a lift our visits give to the residents. Seeing them happily swaying and singing along with us really makes a huge difference to their wellbeing and we want to be able to fund more of those, without needing any fees paid by them.
How do you currently promote your easyfundraising page to members?
We send a weekly email newsletter to the members which promotes easyfundraising and encourages them to forward it on to families and friends. At our rehearsals our technical support person explains to members how it all works and we give an update on the amount raised so far.
What would be your top tip for other causes on easyfundraising?
The most important thing to tell supporters is that it’s free and that it really works! It can easily sound too go to be true but we have raised over £200 to date and so when that money shows on your total, be sure to share it to get other motivated to raise as well. Also, think about who your members are and adapt how you explain it for them – you don’t need to be technically gifted to use the platform but for people who don’t shop online a lot it is important to explain it carefully – video and face to face explanations / demonstrations are a help.
You can support The Forest Singers
It’s fantastic to hear how passionate Margaret and the rest of the group are about the choir and the impact it is having on them and their community. If you would like to support The Forest Singers with every online shop, sign up to support them here.
Involved with a cause that is not currently registered on easyfundraising? Register a cause here.
To find out more about the choir, to join, or to book them for a performance, visit their website.