On Monday 11th March we raised money for 3 charities related to Cambridge and the theme of 'Torn from Home' chosen for this year's Holocaust Memorial Day programme, of which our concert on 11th March was part of our programme of education work in Cambridge, delivered by Historyworks on behalf of Cambridge City Council.

Michael Rosen performed to a packed audience of youngsters and their families because we had just on one thousand gathered at Great St Mary's, the University Church, who kindly hosted our fundraiser organized by Helen Weinstein & team of Historyworks featuring 'our poet in residence' Michael Rosen performing alongside primary and secondary school singers.  If you want to find our songsheet, download it here.  If you would like to listen again to the warm-up poem by Michael Rosen called 'This is the Hand' please join in and enjoy:

Historyworks commissioned new poems and songs from Michael Rosen and our composing team which were brilliantly performed by the KS1 and KS2 choirs at St Matthew's Primary directed by Mario Satchwell and the CAP Singers from Parkside, Trumpington, & Coleridge Community Colleges directed by Rebecca Lewis.  

Here is our short film with a song from each choir - enjoy and share:

Also, if you've photos we can add to the film slide show please send these to Helen = historyworkstv@gmail.com

The songs about Cambridge's History, such as 'Seahorses' and the 'Fitz Lions Round' have been taught to 14 primary schools in Singing Assemblies delivered by Helen and Mario from Historyworks, and it was great to see many children and their families from Cambridge Schools at the concert joining in! 

We've made an album of all the main performances showcasing Michael's introduction, followed by 'Chocoloate Cake' and 'This is the Hand', featuring the KS1 choir including 'Hobson's Horses' and 'Seahorses' the 'Great St Mary's Chimes', then the KS2 choir singing 'Hand on the Bridge', 'The Cambridge Navvies' '1845' and 'Victorian Feast on Parker's Piece; and ending with the CAP Singers with their powerful rendition of Michael Rosen's new pieces commissioned for HMD set to music by Bethany Kirby of 'Torn from Home' followed by 'Home' sung together with the St Matthew's Primary Singers.  You can find the album here:

https://audioboom.com/playlists/4627325-michael-rosen-s-cambridge-concert-2019

Cambridge Independent had a lovely page about the involvement of the 14 schools with photos of our singers from St Matthew's Primary School and the the CAP Singers too:

As a charity fundraiser, the causes were on the theme of 'Torn from Home' chosen by the young people in our project together with Helen Weinstein who told the singers about the charities.    The audience was asked to make donations and to buy books from the Heffers bookstall and to talk to the representatives of the charity there befr and after the concert.  We are very grateful to the 3 charities for helping out with stewarding and talking to everyone and we are hoping we will have raised £1,000+ for each charity.  The 3 charities are CamCRAG (Cambridge Convoy Refugee Action Group), and Jimmy's (Homeless Shelter in Cambridge), and SCU (Street Child United). The young people wanted to make a difference in helping refugees and those without a home living in unsafe places, both street children overseas, and the homeless closer to home who need our support in Cambridge itself.

To find out more about the charities, please see that we have 500 word statements from each charity which you can find below on this page. Plus if you were not able to donate at the concert and would like to do so, we've set up a special online link, and all the funding will be equally distributed between the three so just use whichever is easiest for you to use:

CamCRAG (Cambridge Convoy Refugee Action Group) & Street Child United: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/yourstruly

Jimmy’s Supporting Cambridge Homeless Community:https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/yourstruly