School choir helps fight loneliness this Christmas

The school choir from Peases West Primary Academy added a bit of Christmas magic to the latest meeting of Friends Together Crook.

Group founder Eunice Smith said: “We’re really happy to have the children from Peases West visit us again this week.

“They’ve been coming here for a few years now, and the members just love hearing them sing. We didn’t tell them ahead of time that the children were coming today, so it’s been a nice surprise for them.

“The children are just an absolute delight. They make us feel very emotional when they sing, and it’s just lovely. Well done to them and to the teachers for all they do.”

Friends Together Crook meets twice a week at Crook Community Leisure Centre, and now has more than 75 regular members.

It was founded seven years ago to help local people build friendships, improve wellbeing, and to combat loneliness and social isolation.

The Peases West choir performed a selection of traditional and modern Christmas songs at both weekly meetings.

Pupil Catherine Gowland said: “My teachers always say the group loves children singing at Christmas, so it feels good to do it.

“We’ve been practising for weeks after school, and I just love performing. It’s great to be here.”

As well as the choir performance, visitors enjoyed a buffet, a game of bingo, and big Christmas raffle.

Teacher and choir leader Jenny Storey said: “We’ve been visiting Friends Together Crook for years, and we all just love seeing their faces when we appear.

“It’s just a lovely way to bring some Christmas cheer to our local community.”