Strings & Sings

Ulster Tatler’s, Rebecca Parker catches up with Teresa McBurney from music group, Strings & Sings.

Strings & Sings was formed just before the Covid-19 lockdown back in 2020 with its five members coming from in and around the Banbridge area. The group consists of five ukuleles and two guitars accompanied by some beautiful singing. During the lockdown, a friend they had all known for about 10 years after previously being in a choir together asked if a few of them would come and sing to her mother. They headed round to the garden as singing indoors wasn’t an option at this time and sang a few tunes whilst adhering to all the social distancing rules. It was during their garden performance that a neighbour came out and asked were the beautiful singing was coming from as her elderly mother was in a care home and would love to hear them sing.

Once the lockdown restrictions eased the group were asked to come and sing outdoors at the care home for residents to brighten up what had been a very difficult few months.

Strings & Sings member, Teresa said, ” One care home led to another, then another until we were almost performing full-time during lockdown with requests coming in like wild fire. At one point we counted at least 80 care homes, over the next two years until lockdown was over.”

Members soon became accustomed to performing in all kinds of weather whether it be rain, hail or shine.

Word soon got out about how lovely their music is and how they travelled up and down the country to care homes giving them some hope and brightening up residents’ days as no visitors were allowed at this time.

“It was all then to do with their mental health and wellbeing, giving them some light at the end of the tunnel, hoping life would return back to normal soon”, said Teresa.

Eventually they were allowed in-doors to perform with the care home residents soon getting to know them and eagerly awaiting their return every six weeks or so. During this time,  they covered Banbridge, Dromore, Rathfriland, Portadown, Craigavon, Lisburn, Belfast and Newcastle with the list going on. All five members of the group did this in a voluntary capacity which was costing a lot in petrol so eventually they did start asking for donations to help cover the costs as they wanted to continue spreading their music and joy.

Teresa said, “It was good for us too mentally, giving us something to focus on as the country had come to a standstill. We felt very privileged to be doing what we were doing, little did we know after a few care homes, we would be doing it almost 4 years later this coming October.”

Word soon spread about their success and messages starting coming in from local papers wanting to hear all about Strings & Sings; they’ve even carried out two live interviews on the radio. To this day, the group still just ask for a donation but are often treated to a little sweet treat of tea and buns. They have also started doing some charity work after being asked to perform by different charities and continue to work with them each year, such as ‘Paint the Town Pink’ for Cancer Research.

Recently they have started getting requests for parties, private community groups and garden centres and they regularly perform at Elmfield Estate.

The group are already fully booked up until next year and love when they receive calls to perform in new places. If you would like to book Strings & Sings, head over to their Facebook page and check them out.