Harrogate Theatre Choir's cash boost for mental health charity as album sells strongly

Harrogate Bettys decides to close its shops as Covid situation worsens across the country

The choir, which launched its debut album called Binge last year, is donating half the sale proceeds to MIND in Harrogate District, its chosen charity with £5 from every CD sold would going to this mental health charity.

Geraldine Shaw of Harrogate Theatre Choir said: "Harrogate Theatre Choir is still singing - albeit virtually - but the Covid-19 pandemic is making it very difficult for charities at the moment as they have lost many of their usual funding sources.

"So this is a local story where the local community are rallying round to help.

"Following excellent CD sales, we are delighted to hand over the first £750 to MIND in Harrogate District and hope to be able to hand over more sums like this during 2021 by selling more CDs of our album."

Founded in 2010, Harrogate Theatre Choir is the longest established theatre choir in the UK boasting a vibrant and strong 40+ membership with a repertoire that covers a wide range of songs from the West End, Broadway and Hollywood.

Under the guidance of its musical director, Catherine Field-Leather, the debut album should appeal to all musical theatre fans with tracks including Super Trooper from Mamma Mia, Pie Jesu from Requiem, City of Stars from La La Land and Lullaby Of Birdland by George Shearing.

Instead of the planned tenth birthday celebrations, the album had a quiet ‘socially distanced’ launch at The Yorkshire Hotel, Harrogate last October.

The CD is available through the Harrogate Theatre Choir website, with the download being available on Amazon Music and iTunes.

As for MIND, its chair Mike Gibbs said the charity was grateful for the charity's "valuable" support.

Mr Gibbs said: “The charity sector is currently facing a crisis in funding following the Covid 19 pandemic. This remains the case for Mind in Harrogate District.

"But we have we looked to the local community to rally round and help us keep our services running

"“Over the last few months, we have been able to help those in the community with mental health issues by making over 100 calls a week to ensure contact with them and that they are staying safe.

"In addition, we are providing Zoom music sessions to our service users.

"We are delighted by the efforts of Harrogate Theatre Choir. The CDs are selling well and raising valuable funding for our service and we hope the people of Harrogate continue buying the CD to help us get through this difficult time."

Mind in Harrogate District is an independent charity founded in 1973 and affiliated to National Mind with the belief that everyone should live full lives and play their part in society enjoying the best mental health they possibly can.

For more information, visit www.harrogatetheatrechoir.co.uk and www.mindinharrogate.org.uk

Harrogate family proud of 'tallest snowman in North Yorkshire'

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.