SINGING THROUGH SEPARATION Long periods of deployment often mean being left to get on with life alone, without the support of your spouse, partner or loved family member. As everyone across our unique community knows all too well, that’s when the challenges can really begin. The team from the Military Wives Choirs (MWC) tell us how joining voices with others can help you to feel stronger…
Look out for ‘Military Wi ves’, the new film inspired by the story of the Military Wi ves Choirs, released 6 Mar ch
“IT goes without saying, that literally everything breaks, leaks, and generally goes wrong as soon as our military partners go away,” said choir member Dionne. With a core repertoire of heartfelt and uplifting music, and fun recognisable pieces to raise spirits during times of struggle, weekly rehearsals become a vital constant in a very changeable life. Camaraderie and friendship are but a few of the benefits found at every event and meet up. Members share and encourage the charity’s key mission; to sing, share and support one another.
THE NETWORK With 75 choirs and more than 2,300 members in British military bases across the UK and overseas, MWC is a charity that brings all women, not just wives, in the military community closer together and empowers them through singing. Scientific research shows that singing in a choir can alleviates stress and contributes to an improvement in mental health. One member added: “I love the huge sense of achievement and pride I feel when we sing together.” The choirs deliver welfare in the form
of wellbeing and music that is heard far beyond rehearsals. Through funding and continued support from ambassadors in the music industry, members have achieved extraordinary milestones, including the recording of several albums – the latest, Remember, is inspired by their own words. The celebrated choirs also undertook more than 800 live performances at events for
both military and wider communities during 2019 alone.
POP ALONG Any woman whose life is affected by her military connection can join. No auditions are necessary and a warm welcome awaits from women who understand your life. Visit militarywiveschoirs.org to take your first step. #singsharesupport
Diarising deployments DISCOVERING an idea for a business is often born from people’s own experiences. For Ayesha and her soldier husband Ash, their flash of inspiration came from time spent apart during a deployment. “When we started feeling out of touch, we decided that we needed something that kept us connected in a more traditional way,” explained Ayesha (pictured right). “Speaking through FaceTime, text, emails and letters wasn’t cutting it; somehow, we always www.armyandyou.co.uk
felt restricted. Time wasn’t on our side, as we never knew how long the deployment would last.” After their son was born, Ayesha felt that deployment became even harder. Having not yet celebrated his first birthday together, the couple knew that milestones were going to be missed, and that’s when they came up with the idea of The Detachment Diary. “We started by binding together a book design, which went with Ash on his deployment, recording all the
Take a closer look: thedetachmentdiary.com
things we were missing. Back home, we had our own version that I used to keep track of all stuff baby, to keep Ash in the loop,” she said.
“Upon his return, with diaries at the ready, we swapped, enabling us to read all about the deployment and in turn, share all of our home adventures.” Ayesha is offering Army&You readers a free military mum planner created to ease deployments and new postings. It features a children’s routine template, activity planner, support pages and more. spring 2020 Army&You 19