Ulster Orchestra hits the right notes for patients at Blossom Children’s Ward at Craigavon Area Hospital thanks to support from Ulster Carpets
The Ulster Orchestra has been sharing the calming benefits of live music with children and parents at Craigavon Area Hospital.
Ulster Orchestra musician and facilitator Cecily Smith Nesbitt provided some beautiful Christmas music last week while children waited for their appointments at the Blossom Children’s Ward.
This followed the return of the interactive music sessions in October where Cecily was joined by Ulster Orchestra musician Zuzanna Edmonds to provide a mixture of story-telling and accompanying music.
Linzi Hughes, ward manager at Blossom Children’s Ward, explained that the music sessions benefit children, parents and staff.
"They just create a lovely atmosphere for everyone,” she said. “We get a lot of children and their parents who will be feeling anxious about their hospital visit and the music is a wonderful distraction that creates a real sense of calm.”
Lucy McCullagh, Ulster Orchestra’s head of community engagement and grants, added: “Live music has a healing quality that can improve wellbeing and mental health and these sessions are a great opportunity for us to show the importance of listening and actively participating in live music.”
The music sessions are sponsored by Portadown-based Ulster Carpets, which has been supporting the important outreach work of the Ulster Orchestra for more than a decade.
"We are privileged to support Ulster Orchestra through this special initiative,” said Nick Coburn, group chief executive officer at Ulster Carpets. “This is the third music session at Blossom Children’s Ward and the response from the local community has again been hugely positive.”