Monikie choir's charity donations are pitch-perfect

Monifieth Befrienders and Carnoustie Memories each received £545.15 recently, which had been raised by a ceilidh organised by Monikie Communiy Choir.The choir is run by local woman Catherine Black, with a membership of people who love to sing and socialise, and meets during term time on Thursdays in Monikie Memorial Hall.

Catherine aims to give anyone the opportunity to sing with others and develop their ability, and, as a community choir, all members take ownership of roles throughout the session.

They hold annual Christmas and summer events and any money raised is donated to local charities.

The ceilidh was held in Monikie hall at the end of June and, with support from Tayside Contracts Community Fund and Tesco, it raised £1090.30.

And both charities have earmarked the donations for particular projects.

Carnoustie Memories supports local families by bringing a sense of belonging to those affected by memory loss with free activities based around golf, football and music.

Lorraine Young, from the charity, said: “For the work we are planning to do over the summer, this fantastic donation will be a game changer for providing truly meaningful and enjoyable experiences for all our members that attend Football Action, Golf Memories and Singing with Friends.”

Monifieth Befrienders offers a free befriending service for socially isolated older people, and recently bereaved people living in Monifieth.

Lindsey le Grice, said: “The money will benefit the friends directly and most likely go towards one of the social events. Recently we had an afternoon tea and we do fish and chip events as well as bus trips.”

Catherine said: “We held a concert at Christmas and raised £294 which was split between Togs for Tots and Hillcrest. We decided to go bigger for summer and wanted to put on an event that people in the community could enjoy and benefit from. It was great to see new faces.”

She added: "I’d like to thank my band members for giving their time to help make this a huge success as well as the generous donations from Tayside Contracts community fund and Tesco Monifieth that enabled all monies raised to go directly to the charities. Monikie Hall is a great venue and I am grateful for the support of the hall committee. I am overwhelmed at the amount we managed to raise and I just love the togetherness and care the choir members have. Now for a lovely summer break and back to singing on August 15.’