Guest Blog - Meet Bethy!

Meet Bethy, our music master extraordinaire!

This is Bethy, our wonderful Choir master and resident card-maker (she’s even got her own business!). We spoke to Bethy about why she loves KEEN so much - read on to hear move about her story.

KEEN Choir meets every Thursday at 5.30pm for half an hour of singing and dancing, learning songs from musicals, Disney, our favourite bands and whatever else we want to sing! We especially love adding actions to as many words as we possibly can.

When she’s not singing her heart out with all the lovely members of KEEN choir, you’ll find Bethy playing the piano at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

When did you start working for KEEN?

I got involved in KEEN because I’d been along to some of the AllSorts sessions to help do some tennis, and I met so many great people there and enjoyed the sessions so much that I just had to get more involved! Music is my favourite thing of all things so I thought what could be more fun than getting to sing and dance with all the amazing people at KEEN each week?!

Why do you think KEEN is so important?

KEEN brings SO much happiness into people’s lives. There is a real feeling of community amongst everyone involved in KEEN, and I know it sounds clichéd but it really does feel like one big happy family. KEEN is doing amazing work in the journey towards making the world a more inclusive place to be, and it really is a place where everyone is welcome, everyone’s ideas are heard, and everyone is of absolutely equal importance. Not only that, but KEEN also helps to give structure to lots of people’s lives - a sense of stability and familiarity, along with so many fun activities and lovely people to look forward to doing/seeing each week, even every day! 

What’s the best thing about KEEN Choir?

The best thing about KEEN choir for me is 100% the lovely people I get to see every week at our rehearsals!! There’s nothing quite like seeing everyone all together singing along to the same song, doing the same actions in sync with each other, even when we’re not actually in the same place. Every single person brings something great to the choir; whether it’s song suggestions, expert makaton or signs knowledge, egg-shaker percussion, or just a good old big smile, everyone comes together to create something very wonderful!

Can you tell us a little bit about your card business and why you've picked KEEN as your nominated charity this year? 

 I’ve been making homemade cards ever since I can remember; I don’t think I’ve ever bought one! Last summer, I started Bethany Ella Cards! I thought it would be a great way to fundraise for charities that I volunteer with too, so I decided that I’d donate 20% of all my sales directly to the annual charity I choose each year.

I am so excited to start raising money for KEEN, particularly as over lockdown, I’ve seen the incredible extent of the impact they have on the lives of all the people that come to KEEN events. KEEN is a truly magical thing and I can’t wait to help them continue to transform people’s lives and bring happiness to so many! All the cards I sell are prints of watercolour paintings I’ve done, and if you’d like to order any or to see more about them, just go to Bethany Ella Cards on Facebook or Instagram, or click on this link!