On Saturday 11th May 2024, the VIP Singers celebrated 10 years of singing and laughing together. This is a group of visually impaired people (VIPs) and their friends who have met on Saturday mornings at St Thomas’s hospital to sing, exchange information, chat, drink coffee and discuss biscuits from 10.30 to 12.30.
We had two founder members present, Irene and June, and Maria who returned from Cardiff to join us again.
There were also members who could not be present in person, on zoom and among others, we sang ‘sunny side of the street’, ‘da do ron ron ron’, ‘Mercedes Benz’, ‘Three Little Birds’, and a couple of songs we had worked on ourselves.
Coffee and cake was enjoyed by all and we praised Cerys, our medical director to the skies. She was muddling through, having broken two of the fingers of her left hand the day before. She is now in plaster!
The group is very committed and always says how cheerful they feel after a Saturday morning session. If you like singing, it really does cheer you up for the rest of the week.
We would like to thank Guy’s and St Thomas’s for their continued support, providing a home for us to meet and sing, Morley College for providing us with the best pianist in the world and the South London Resource Centre for funding and enthusiasm. Blindaid, The Pocklington Trust and Roger Pope and partners have also been extremely helpful over the years.
If anyone would like to join us, you can find details and videos on www.southlondonvision.org or ring the St Thomas’s eye clinic liaison officer, Ariz, on 07770 381758.
We are a very informal and friendly group who really understand the trauma of sight loss.
Sarah Janikoun
