03/01/2023

As weather was becoming grim last autumn, L’Arche Manchester partnered up with Halle Orchestra to brighten our days. Christine and Ric from Halle have done numerous educational sessions in the past and to our benefit, they took on a project with L’Arche.

Inspired by L’Arche’s logo, Christine and Ric decided on a theme of water. Water is all about journey, it is something that travels and moves. It could be a journey to a place, emotions, ideas or situations. As people are on different journeys in their lives, each of the six sessions evolved around the topic of water. There was even an idea of building a boat on a journey (we call it a party train!).

People with learning disabilities were exploring different rhythms, creating music together and even participating in conducting sessions too. It gave our members with a disability a sense of control as they were in charge of what is going to happen which in turn gently promotes independence and explores different skill sets.

Welcoming two musicians into our Community and learning from them was interesting and fun, it encouraged creativity, brought positivity to our days and helped our members to explore their own talents and abilities.

Sherwin shares: ''I have seen core members gain confidence in creating music and also become socially more open and aware of their skills. It is lovely to see people flourish every session with Halle. Christine and Ric have been very inclusive and made adjustments to facilitate core members’ ability to make music. They listened to their ideas and were happy to be led by members’ initiative. It was lovely to partner with the Halle and witness how they nurture people’s interest in music.''