Thank you for taking the time to look at our blog – we hope you did so during the year too. It’s been a busy year for us as we launched the site in March and have been working with schools and academies in Nottingham ever since, trying to make sure as many children and young people as possible get as many chances as possible to try new things, build their confidence and see where their hidden talents may lie.
With this time of year being one of reflection, of thinking back over the last 12 months, we’d like you to think back over what you’ve done – in school and out – which you’ve enjoyed, has made you feel good or has helped someone else, and make a resolution to do more things like that in the new year. Let’s make 2017 the year of helping others and feeling good!
Hope you have a brilliant Christmas with family and friends and get at least one of the presents you asked Santa for – we’re hoping for some more server space, but then again we’re a website.
Christmas in the City is Nottingham Music Service’s annual showcase of music from young people across the city who make music through the various bands, orchestras and choirs available both in school and out. Headlined by the fantastic Robin Hood Youth Orchestra, showcasing some of Nottingham’s finest orchestral talent, it’s always a fantastic night of music at each of the concerts they hold: one at Nottingham’s Albert Hall and one at the Royal Concert Hall.
This year, with the launch of Nottingham Music Service’s If Every Child Could charity single (still available for download here: iTunes, Google Play or Amazon), the audience were treated to live performances of the song and able to sing along using the overhead projector song-sheet!
At OppNotts, we were lucky enough to work with Nottingham Music Service and get behind the scenes access to what they did in the run up to the concert – sound checking, rehearsing and moving lots and lots of chairs! We were really impressed by all the talent on display, especially the 4 sing city winners: Simran Johal, Kelsey Shaw, Ellie Stainsby-Grenville and Matthew Baggaley – who all performed solo! – and the massed primary school choirs, who came together, from schools across Nottingham, to sing with each other. It was brilliant to see the progression children can make in their music-making journey too: from area band, to intermediate orchestra to RHYO and beyond. There were also technical, as well as musical, innovations this year, with a sea of lights waved by the choirs during RHYO’s playing of Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s Carol Symphony.
If you’re interested in learning more about playing a musical instrument or singing in a choir, please take a look at Nottingham Music Service’s website here.
Are you doing your bit for National Tree Week, which started on Saturday. Since the first National Tree Week in 1975 it has been the UK’s largest tree celebration annually launching the start of the winter tree planting season.
National Tree Week is a great chance for communities to do something positive for their local treescape. Each year, The Tree Council’s member organisations such as voluntary bodies and local authorities, up to 200 schools and community groups, our 8,000 Tree Wardens and many others, support the initiative by setting up fun, worthwhile and accessible events, inspiring upward of a quarter of a million people to get their hands dirty and together plant around a million trees.
Do you want to be part of this great collective achievement?
All events can be found on our Near You map. To find out about the kind of activities which took place in your area last year, for inspiration, you can look at past events. If you’re interested in organising your own event, read further to get some useful tips on how to organise successful tree planting activities and don’t forget to list your event on our website, so that other people can come and join you!
National Tree Week culminates with Tree Dressing Day on 3rd December. This year, free resource packs designed by Common Ground are available containing everything you need to hold a ‘re-leaf a winter tree’ activity at the same time as gathering people’s thoughts on why trees matter to help inform the Tree Charter. To order you pack, email the Tree Charter with your name, address and details of your planned event.
