Huge thanks from Ottery Memory Café. We all enjoyed the singing and your ‘actions’ Sam. The afternoon was fun and we are extremely grateful to you all giving up your afternoon.
With best wishes
Jane Ross
Reviews
CLIC Sargent Fundraising Engagement Manager for Cornwall & Devon said: “It was an absolutely pleasure working with the La La Choirs in the build up to CLIC for Christmas 2016. Despite living busy lives themselves, Sam and Claire worked tirelessly to support CLIC Sargent and make this event a success. Sam runs a very organised and professional choir and this was clearly shown with how smoothly the CLIC for Christmas event ran, the standard of their performance and the fact the event sold out raising over £12,000 for CLIC Sargent.”
“Sam, Claire and The La La Choirs were always accessible, always happy to help and always wanting to do the best they could to make a difference to local charities. I am very much looking forward to working with them again this year.”
As you know, we made a theatre show in Exeter in 2016, and Sam was hugely important in making it work. Tiny Heroes is a show about ordinary, often-overlooked heroism: about the people who save your life, your day, or your bacon.
We gathered stories from all over Devon and turned them into a two hour show, including several songs. There were two professional performers, but we had this idea that we wanted a community choir to join them on stage, in particular for a song about volunteering. We contacted several choirs in Exeter and Sam was immediately on board: she was enthusiastic, supportive, professional and full of creative ideas about how we could make it work. She enthused the Exeter La La Choir about the idea, gave up her time to run extra rehearsals with them, and brought them along to take part in the show two nights running. Watching her with the choir was joyful: she was focussed and enthusiastic, pushing the singers to be the best they could be, pumping them full of her own energy, giving them confidence.
That moment when the choir stood up out of the audience to sing with our performers was described in our Guardian review as an “extraordinary and heart-stopping moment”, and the show itself as a heartfelt demonstration that there are everyday heroes all around us. Sam is one of them!
Dear Sam,
Choir members may recall singing at the above concert at Ottery St. Mary Parish Church when the funds raised amounted to £1,100. Otter Valley Inner Wheel also helped steward at the Concert and we sent a cheque for £1,100 to ELF (Exeter Leukemia Fund) asking that this should go towards the Chevithorne Appeal.
I am pleased to say that all funds have now been raised and the new Chevithorne Suite at the end of the Hematology Centre has been completed and will be taking its first patients today. Some members may have seen the rooms on a BBC Spotlight item last Monday (30th Jan). I am still one of the Trustees of ELF and last Wednesday I visited the suite and can report that it has a large airy patients bedroom with a large sliding glass door which leads into a small courtyard garden and also has an extremely large well equipped ensuite wet room.
There is also a family bedroom with ensuite wet room and a living room cum kitchenette which also leads into a small courtyard garden. This facility will be used for not only patients nearing the end of their lives so that they can having family staying with them but also for patients who have to have in-patient treatment and need family support.
The nurses are over the moon with the result. It is a fabulous facility and I just wanted all choir members to know how much all their support is appreciated and what it helps to achieve – they are so generous and giving of their time, and also making cakes and donating raffle prizes.
Many thanks indeed.
Love Di Passey
Sam has provided support to Hamoaze House by organising a fund raising event in October 2014 at the Guildhall in Plymouth of which Hamoaze House Trustees, staff and service users attended and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening. This provided Hamoaze with the opportunity of raising much needed additional funding and to raise the awareness of the services that we provide citywide in Plymouth.
Without the support of Sam and organisations like La La Choir we would not be able to fund the range of services that we provide.Well done Sam and thank you for your continued support.
Best wishes, Mark Bignell (Chief Executive)
My first involvement with Sam Abrahams and La La Choirs was in early 2012 when she approached me to sponsor her planned Gala concert at Exeter University. As a music lover and supporter of various arts projects, I was keen for my firm to be involved in some way and over the course of my meetings with Sam, I soon came to realise that she was an enthusiastic, creative and dedicated person with whom my firm could work well. We were delighted to provide sponsorship for the concert and even more delighted to be able to attend as VIP guests and enjoy a fantastic night of singing. Organising such a large, successful event as the Gala concert must have taken a lot of hard work and dedication, but with Sam leading the way, it was never in doubt that we would be in for a good night. As well as a thoroughly enjoyable evening, the event raised several thousands of pounds for Rethink Mental Illness, and I am glad that we were able to help with achieving this result.
In October 2014, Sam again decided to organise a fundraising concert, this time in Plymouth and raising money for Hamoaze House, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre in Plymouth, and approached me for sponsorship. Again, I was more than happy to help out and the evening was a roaring success for La La Choirs and helped to raise the profile of a vital local charity. Rokk Media are always extremely grateful to work with such influential local organisations.
Adam Stone
Managing Director, Rokk Media Limited
How can I begin to thank you for such a fantastic evening.
I have received a number of phone calls and emails from people who attended and were thrilled by the excitement and enthusiasm of the choir, the range of music, the contrast of ‘Misty Roses’, the wonderful leadership… I could go on and on.
It was truly amazing Sam, so too was all the endorsement for the work of Home-Start and your personal gratitude of the volunteer support you experienced.
Now for the financial news! You already have some idea but in addition to what we counted then was over £100 in the bucket collection and the final amount is £850. Wow!! Also we can gift aid that which means the final total will be over £1000!!
Thank you so much and please pass on our most sincere thanks to all your choirs for giving us such an entertaining evening.
Love and best wishes
Heather Somerwill