Southampton Philharmonic Choir members recently took part in a sponsored walk in aid of Solent Mind and have so far raised over £2000.

We’ve all been affected by life in lockdown and not being able to do the things that we normally take for granted. For Southampton Philharmonic Choir, all our concerts have been cancelled for the foreseeable future due to the ongoing restrictions on social gatherings. We were conscious that our support for our current charity partner, Solent Mind, Hampshire’s leading mental health charity, had also stopped.  As we believe that the important work of Solent Mind is even more vital in these difficult times, the choir came up with a cunning plan!

Starting on what would have been the choir’s debut performance at St John’s Smith Square in London on 7 June, our members challenged themselves, either alone or as part of a small team, to cover the 67-mile distance between our rehearsal home at Turner Sims, Southampton and St John’s Smith Square, either on foot or other self-propelled means, and gave themselves two weeks to complete the task.

Our members didn’t let us down, and over 1000 miles were covered, by a variety of means – one rowed some of the distance and another danced some of the way, taking part in Zoom dance classes!

Here’s what some of the participants said:

‘… made for a good challenge to my fitness. I enjoyed every minute of it, and it spurred me on to do a 34-miler over the Hampshire Downs yesterday…’
‘…it has taught me how to handle a much higher weekly mileage than I’ve done in about seven years! Despite injury in the past few years I seem to have got so used to the distance now and feel so much fitter and better for getting out there every day; and if I hadn’t been doing the challenge I would have found an excuse not to go!’
‘… we will definitely keep walking and decided to set challenges for ourselves after this as it makes us do more walking even if we feel lazy!’
‘it’s amazing how many steps there are in a tango… one mile in 40 minutes, not a bad start!’

Joanne Silsbury, Corporate Liaison Officer at Solent Mind says: “It’s fantastic that our friends from Southampton Philharmonic Choir have found other imaginative ways to raise money at this time.
By thinking creatively and adapting their ways of fundraising, their 'Miles for Mind' initiative continues to spread positive wellbeing messages at this difficult time.”

The Phil is thrilled with the support that they have received from family and friends, and the Just Giving page will remain open until the end of July.