Sally Williams, Gloucestershire Libraries' Development Officer for Ageing with Creativity, explains the library service's success with its Over 60s Community Choir initiative.

At its heart, this initiative was designed to provide connection among older adults. Libraries, familiar, welcoming, and accessible seemed the perfect setting for people to come together, share their voices, and build lasting friendships. The impact has been profound: participants report feeling more confident, joyful, and purposeful with improved mental and physical wellbeing.

The project that began just two years ago in a single Gloucestershire library has since blossomed into a vibrant network of three choirs, each offering weekly singing sessions led by a professional musician and open to all musical abilities, without the need to audition!

Importantly, all choirs are dementia-friendly, ensuring that individuals living with a dementia feel welcomed and supported. The sessions are designed to be inclusive, with a gentle pace, familiar songs, and a warm atmosphere that encourages community links and joy.

Several key ingredients have helped this initiative thrive and could be easily replicated in other communities:

• Using library spaces when they would normally be closed and in daylight hours 
• Partnering with health organisations to reach those who would benefit most
• Offering flexible, participant-led programming that evolves with the group
• Connecting with social prescribing and wellbeing networks to embed the choir into wider support systems

The choir members now feel confident enough to perform in care homes, shopping centres, and alongside local schoolchildren, bringing generations together and showcasing the library as a hub of creativity and community. For participants, these performances offer more than just a stage: they provide a sense of achievement, visibility, and pride. Many members have shared how performing in public has boosted their self-esteem, given them something to look forward to, and reignited passions they thought were long behind them. It’s not just about singing, it’s about being seen, heard, and celebrated.

We would be delighted to share more about this project and explore how it might be adapted to suit other settings. The power of song and storytelling through music, especially in a library, is proving to be a powerful way to bring people together.

Those wishing to find out more about Gloucestershire's Over 60s Community Choir initiative should email Sally.