Royal seal of approval for choir’s video
Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, have praised NHS workers in Lanarkshire following their Lean On Me video last week.
The royal couple tweeted NHS
Lanarkshire from their official account, thanking the staff.
And the tweet – from The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Royal Foundation, based at Kensington Palace – stated: “We all need somebody to lean on – thank you to @Nhslanarkshire‘s staff choir for this beautiful rendition of the Bill Withers classic Lean on Me.”
Thanks to modern technology, NHS Lanarkshire’s staff choir were able to join together to sing a song of hope and friendship.
The choir remotely recorded the song, originally by Bill Withers.
Performed by 29 members of NHS Lanarkshire staff, they dedicated it to family, friends, colleagues and patients.
The performance also includes one member of staff who translates the song into BSL while singing the iconic words.
Gillian Evans, nurse and improvement advisor and member of the NHS Lanarkshire staff choir, said: “The choir was initially set up to improve health and wellbeing. Singing is a great form of therapy. It lifts your spirits and enables your problems to melt away.
“To comply with social distancing, and due to pressures on staff, the choir were no longer able to meet up as a group to sing. However, recording this song has kept us together in difficult times.
“Although we have all been separate and unable to rehearse this together, modern technology has enabled us to unite for this special performance.
“The song chosen is extremely appropriate for how Lanarkshire and the world is feeling at the moment.
“We hope that our song will feel uplifting to everyone who listens, during this challenge that the NHS is currently facing.”
Members of the choir were asked to record themselves singing Lean on Me on their mobile phones.
The footage was then sent to musical director Rebecca Keay, who collated the individual voices into one seamless performance.
Rebecca said: “In this current climate, as musical director, it was important to try to keep our choir singing. Having a common purpose and goal in our song, Lean on Me has given us this focus of staying together.
“Through social media, we’ve worked remotely, but always together and supporting each other. As frontline workers, the lyrics mean a lot to the choir, touching many important aspects of their role in saving lives.
“My job was facilitating this project, providing the materials for rehearsal and trying to give my limited technical support for recording files and videos.
“With the help of Dylan, who collated and presented the images, I mixed all the voice recordings with a backing track.
“We have achieved something we are proud of, using limited equipment – just our mobile phones. We’ve kept singing, despite the worries we all have.
“As a group, I believe we have grown stronger together and if lockdown continues, we plan to do more.”
The video is available on NHS Lanarkshire’s facebook and website.
It is also available on youtube at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=y9hrcjhgqx