Westfield Voices weren’t always known by that name, in fact they won a grant at our Dragons’ Den 6 to help them to re-brand (including new equipment) from Westfield Ladies Choir – a name that has been well known in the community for decades, but was beginning to restrict what they wanted to do going forward. They have recently been in touch with a report on how they’ve got on…
The Dragons’ Den pitch – Westfield Ladies Choir Relaunch as “Westfield Voices” – Modernise and rebrand Westfield Ladies Choir in order to allow us to reach out to a wider age range and involve more local residents and continue to support local groups, events, schools and charities:
The project really took off at our relaunch concert on 28th July.
Since then we have been able to use our new equipment in a number of venues which would otherwise have been difficult for us to attend. We absolutely loved our visit to Fosseway School.
We were also delighted to perform at Trinity Primary School for the first time.
The choir has existed in Westfield for over 70 years and although its initial aim was based more on competitive singing, over time it has turned more and more towards supporting local groups and charities. The other aspect of the choir which has grown out of its long life is that of providing a support network and community for its members who are local people. As our membership began to dwindle and our age profile became higher we realised that, unless we updated and attracted more members, this invaluable community support would be lost. We feel very strongly that keeping a local community ethos alive will help to retain a friendly and supportive atmosphere and environment for all age groups from children right through to the older generations. We were determined to keep the choir going so that it can continue to play a positive role in our local area.
We are delighted to say that Westfield Voices has been launched and we feel our new image is far more up to date. We have been receiving requests for bookings from groups and venues where we haven’t performed before. One of these requests was actually from Trinity Primary School who found out about us at the Dragons Den event. Thank you for that great publicity opportunity as well as the funding which made it possible for us to accept the booking. We also have had four ladies who have joined us since the relaunch so membership, which was a concern, is on the increase. Overall a very successful project.
Since the start of this project we have been able to perform at a much higher number of local venues where we simply couldn’t have performed before. This was either due to our outdated and bulky equipment or lack of funding and members. We have been able to support a wider range of local events, schools, care homes and charities raising funds and providing entertainment. We have 8 bookings in November and December alone so we are looking forward to a busy future for Westfield Voices
- All of us here at the Big Local would like to say a big well done to the Westfield Voices, who have clearly made the most of the money and contacts from the Dragons’ Den and put the time and effort in to raising funds and members from elsewhere too.
You can find out more about Westfield Voices here: https://www.facebook.com/WestfieldLadiesChoir/
Find out about other Dragons’ Den winners here: https://radstockwestfield.org.uk/category/dragonsden/