Spirit of Manchester Story Week 2020 - Staying social

On Wednesday, Manchester City of Sanctuary ran an activity for their members teaching them how to use human percussions to create beats such as clapping or clicking to recreate the song, Billy Jean. It was a nice, fun activity to try and make music without using voices or instruments. Every meeting they have will have a different artist coming in as a guest so everyone can learn new skills, but really these sessions focus on finding enjoyable ways to stay social and connected during the pandemic.

Of course, before Covid-19 it might have been slightly easier to run these sessions as they would not have had to rely on phone calls or internet connection. Despite that, during the session everyone could relax and enjoy making the music and laugh at their own mistakes which provides a value escape from their everyday worries.

There are many people from the group who are completely alone and isolated because of the pandemic and you can see how this might help them. Some of them aren’t completely interested in the actual activity itself, rather watching other people participate. They can connect with people they might not necessarily have met and it allows them to feel like part of a group of friends and have valuable social interaction which has become sparse over the last few months.

This music session is part of an activity programme by Manchester City of Sanctuary. Their mission in Manchester is to help spread the City of Sanctuary network to Manchester, making it united in being a welcoming city, open and fair for all. They are a non-religious organisation who wants to create a more inclusive and welcoming city to those seeking sanctuary who bring skills, enterprise, music, food and hard work to enrich our city.