Addiction choir to give cathedral concert

The Recovery Church, for people of all faiths and none, meets each week in Newcastle Cathedral

A choir for recovering addicts is to sing at a cathedral concert dedicated to the theme of sanctuary.

The event at Newcastle Cathedral on Thursday, 18 July will include songs from members of the Recovery Church which meets there each week.

It will include the song See Me, co-written with Sean Cooney of the Teesside folk trio The Young’uns, who will perform alongside them.

He said: "Helping members of the cathedral's Recovery Church group write a song has been a very powerful, moving and inspirational experience."

The song addresses how stigma and shame associated with addiction can result in people being labelled and not seen or valued.

The group says addiction is an illness, not a choice

Recovery Church member Marty said: "No-one chooses to be an alcoholic – it's an illness which almost cost me my job, my marriage, my health and my home.

"I am lucky because I'm now four months sober, but I became so ill I couldn't take painkillers and thought I was dying."

The group is led by the Reverend Jon Canessa from Newcastle Cathedral and Methodist minister Deacon Tracey Hume, who are both in recovery themselves.

Other songs will include Someday written by Bushee, a Burmese asylum seeker based in Newcastle.

Bushee has written one of the songs that will be performed

The Stories of Sanctuary project was launched in 2018 at Durham Cathedral, intertwining ancient sanctuary stories with those of recently settled Syrian refugees.

Its music has toured the UK, inspiring new song-writing groups in County Durham and Sunderland.

Canon Peter Dobson of Newcastle Cathedral said: "The project has helped us and others better understand the importance of sanctuary in its many different forms."