A WORCESTER NHS choir is hitting the right note for charity, helping those who have suffered the pain of stillbirth.

The Voices 4 Health Choir was formed two years ago to give anyone who is linked with the NHS in Worcestershire a chance to meet and sing together.

The choir has 30 members drawn from all walks of healthcare life from nurses to doctors and from administration staff to volunteers and retired staff.

The choir will be staging their own charity concert on Friday, July 15 at 7.30pm in St Peter’s Baptist Church to raise money for the Meadow Birth Centre and the Faye Turner Suite (a facility for parents who have had a stillbirth) at Worcestershire Royal.

Musical director, Alison Southall, said: "It is so much fun. We sing together; laugh together and have formed really strong friendships with people we wouldn’t have got to know any other way.”

The choir says scientific studies have shown that singing together as a group has physical benefits and increases the oxygen in your bloodstream, exercised the muscles in the upper body and produces feel-good hormones like dopamine and endorphins which lead to better mental health.

The social side includes making new friends and boosting self-esteem and confidence.

Mrs Southall said: “Before coming to the choir some of the members were told that they couldn’t sing, but with increased confidence they were good enough to sing for HRH The Princess Royal at the opening of the Oncology Centre and have gone on to sing at Worcester Cathedral."

Kat Norwood, a staff nurse at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester said: “I love everything about choir. We have such a laugh and it is so good, after a hard day on the ward, to come and sing with friends. I feel so much better after it and full of energy.”

Tickets for the concert are £5 and available from revdavidsouthall@aol.com