Members of our Orchard Recovery Group based in Banbury were able to sign up to a songwriting skills course with the wonderful Chris Beck (a local singer/songwriter), a Tutor with the Activate Learning Programme (Banbury and Bicester College).

 

As a result of the songwriting sessions,members and Chris were able to create a brand new song, Crazy World, an incredible testament to the talent involved in these unprecedented times.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tGwx2jwBUU

 

Chris said,

 

“I was lucky enough to meet and work with a wonderful committed group of creatives at The Orchard Recovery Group, all keen to learn the fundamentals of songwriting. We had such a great time that we went on to write three more songs together. We all had great fun working together and the members there were all incredibly keen to learn. I saw a dramatic change in their self-esteem, confidence, wellbeing, and relationships within the group. It was a pleasure, and an experience and group of people I’ll never forget.”

 

Jacqui, our Recovery Coordinator at The Orchard Recovery Group said,

 

“Chris was great with the members, and they really looked forward to working with him every week. There were many different personalities within the group, some more vocal than others, but everyone’s suggestions were discussed. This was really valuable for them as their suggestions were used and put to music there and then.

 

Chris’s course very quickly became the talk of the Recovery Group with members chatting about what they had achieved. By its very nature, the songwriting course made a huge difference to the confidence of the songwriting team. They were learning to work as a team, to respect each other’s suggestions, and most importantly to have fun.”

 

The song itself has real meaning and emotion, particularly in the current pandemic situation, and never been more timely.

 

What an amazing achievement by all involved! 

 

Crazy World is available to buy on Amazon, 25% of proceeds from the song will be donated to Restore. 

 

It will also be available very soon to purchase from Spotify and iTunes. Watch this space!