Atomic Kitten star Natasha Hamilton will be bringing some cheers to Liverpool’s elderly this week as she joins The Smiling Sessions across the city region.

The Smiling Sessions are run by a charity who usually go into care homes or community centres for the elderly each week and host sing-a-longs for the residents or members. Throughout lockdown they had celebrities dropping in to participate virtually and now The Smiling Sessions are back for a second season.

As many care homes go back into lockdown this project is highlighting the benefits of singing to health and well being and lifting the spirits of the elderly during an incredibly tough time with many of them living in isolation since March.

Natasha Hamilton is this week’s guest and she is singing ‘Son of a Preacher Man’. Other celebrities that have taken part so far include Brian McFadden, KT Tunstall & Daniel O’Donnell and we have Merrill Osmond and Basil Brush confirmed for upcoming sessions. You can watch the performances on the Smiling Sessions web app here.

The charity are holding a special session for Remembrance Sunday on 8th November with communities of care home residents across the UK joining The Smiling Sessions, to sing ‘We’ll Meet Again’ paying tribute to wartime sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn who sadly passed away earlier this year.

The majority of care home residents are 75+ whose lifetimes have been embellished with the wonderful songs of Dame Vera Lynn. The darling of a generation, Dame Vera raised the spirits of the Nation with her enduring classic ‘We’ll Meet Again’. Not since the song’s release in 1939 and subsequent war years that followed, has it ever held a more appropriate meaning.

Smiling Sessions organiser Alison Jones said:

“Singing Dame Vera’s songs with our wonderful senior residents is generally an extremely cathartic experience for them. Her songs are immensely popular with our audiences, triggering a mixed bag of emotions, stories and memories.”

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