Funding awarded to 'lifeline' Parkinson's choir in Jersey

Paddy Haversham-Quaid said the group had become a "lifeline"

More than £5,000 worth of Channel Islands Lottery funding has been given to a charity to run a choir for people with Parkinson's disease in Jersey.

The 'Sparky Parky' choir is supported by the Jersey branch of Parkinson's UK.

The sessions by charity Aureole Music combine singing, speech therapy and social bonding to help those with the condition.

The funding will allow the charity to run its Parkinson's choir until 2025.

Head of the charity, Nicki Kennedy, said rehearsals were "chaos, we just have a huge amount of fun".

She said: "We have about 20 members of the group, they are patients and their carers, sometimes carers come without patients and take away some of the exercises.

"It's a big social, it's a big support group."

'Amazing, beautiful people'

Paddy Haversham-Quaid, who is one of the choir members without Parkinson's, joined the group as a way of coming to terms with her husband's diagnosis.

She said the group had become a "lifeline".

Ms Haversham-Quaid said: "My husband was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's... and it's been quite a tough journey for me.

"He's been great about it - very positive, very practical - I've been really scared because it's the unknown, but a year on I'm really embracing it.

"Meeting these amazing, beautiful people is just really helping me see into the future, I suppose, and it feels ok, it feels really good."

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