Songs of Hope
Saturday 1st March, 10-4pm St. James Hall, 11a John’s Place, Leith, Edinburgh Eh6 7EL

Join experienced song-leaders Penny Stone and Ryan O’Riordan for day of singing to lift your spirits and fill you up with that thing we all find hard to find sometimes…. HOPE! Penny and Ryan write and teach songs for a better tomorrow, so please come expecting beautiful harmonies, uplifting themes and community connection.

We will sing together from 10am-4pm, with lunch and tea breaks. We will provide tea and coffee, including non-dairy milk, and biscuits. We will have a pot-luck shared lunch so please do bring something to share if you are able to. We’ll try to keep meat and veggie/vegan stuff separate, as well as gluten free and nut free, so please bring a note of ingredients so that people know if they can eat it or not!

Adults and kids are all welcome, but do be aware that the workshop is primarily aimed at adults. But if you know your youngster is comfortable in singing spaces, or you need to bring them so that you can participate, you’re all welcome and we’ll make the space as welcoming as I can for everyone.

TICKETS:

This workshop is charged on a pay-what-you-can scale, and if the lower end of this is still too much for you, please just drop me a line and I’ll put you aside a free ticket, no questions asked. If you are in a position to pay the standard or slightly higher ‘supporters’ rate, please do so to help me enable everyone who would like to access this workshop.

If the cost of a ticket is a barrier to you attending, please get in touch and we will do our best to get you in the room!
Email us at HopeMongersBand@gmail.com

Penny Stone:

Penny stone is a songleader, composer and hopemonger based in Edinburgh. She co-leads radical choir Protest in Harmony, as well as open community singing groups and singing for health groups. Penny believes that we can start to build the world we want to live in, cultivating community and connection through singing together, and that we can share comfort and joy together whilst also using these songs to help challenge the status quo.

Find more at Penny’s Website

Ryan O’Riordan:

Ryan leads many weekly choirs in London, including the UCL Jazz Choir, the Greenpeace Workplace Choir and the Islington Community Choir and many more! Ryan also leads weekend workshops and residentials and has developed a style which is high-energy and fun loving. His original songs are funky and soulful, and are incredibly joyous, rhythmically infectious and fun. Ryan’s written songs for many occasions, and his song Dirty Water has been used up and down the country to raise money for Surfers Against Sewage. Ryan really believes in people power; the only way we can achieve anything meaningful is connecting and collaborating. So in any project he runs, he always tries to make sure it’s contributing to lifting people up, making people happy and bringing people together.

Check out more at Ryan’s Website

The Venue

St. James Hall, 11a John’s Place, Leith, Edinburgh Eh6 7EL

Closest transport:
Foot of the walk Tram|
Bus stop: duke street, 35 bus

Accessibility:
There is disabled parking outside the venue and the venue is wheelchair accessible. The nearest dropped curb to access the front door to the building is by the disabled car parking places in the car park.

We will be singing at St. James Hall, which is on the ground floor, is wheelchair accessible, and there is an accessible toilet on the same level. If there is any accessibility info you would like us to know before the workshop, please do put a note in the box when you book a ticket, eg. if you are visually impaired and would like any lyrics emailed ahead. We teach most things by ear, but sometimes a longer song is supported by having words written down. Assistance dogs welcome.