The MPC were delighted to travel out to Tottenham in North London this week (a real labour of love for some of our choristers who live in Surrey and beyond) to sing at a spring concert in support of the wonderful Kith and Kids charity which works to give opportunities to people with learning disabilities and autism and to provide respite care for their families. The MPC sang alongside the charity’s own choir and we also performed two songs together which went down a storm!
The MPC waiting to perform
The MPC has a long-standing association with the charity and has sung at several of its concerts in the past. But this concert was extra special as it was held very much in the memory of CEO Marjolein de Vries who died very suddenly and unexpectedly last year after 30 years at the helm. Interim CEO Robin Stone said that losing her had been a real body blow for the charity but that the choir had carried on with their fortnightly rehearsals and kept the social side of the music going. Something that was very important to Majolein.
The choir at Kith and Kids is made up of around 20 individuals – a mixture of service users, their families and volunteers and they have a very wide repertoire. During the Spring Concert the audience were treated to renditions of I Want To Be Like You and Karma Chameleon among others. Robin commented that he really valued the MPC support and that the choir was very excited to be performing with the MPC. “It makes the whole choir proud to stand on the stage together with you”. Well, we are also very honoured to sing alongside the Kith and Kids choir!
The audience beginning to arrive
Choir master Tony Regan who has been in charge since 2016 explained that Majolein made a lot of the choir’s musical choices meaning she is always present for them when they sing. “The choir love singing with the police choir and hopefully the police choir gets something from it too” he added.
The Kith and Kids choir, which also sang at her funeral, were fabulous as always with several star solo performers and Majolein was indeed very much present for everyone – as Robin said “this is a great opportunity to bring both choirs together in her memory and I hope it continues for a long time. Marjolein loved to sing, she instigated this choir 15 years ago. She was loved by everyone and was incredibly creative. It’s still a huge loss to us all.”
Some of the Kith and Kids volunteers