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iCG puts the vital role of social care in a song!




The Independent Care Group (iCG) has taken the unusual step of highlighting the vital care of older and vulnerable adults - in a song!

The iCG has just released a charity song called ‘Who Cares?’ proceeds of which will go to The Care Workers’ Charity.

The song has been co-written by iCG Marketing Executive Brian Johnson and performed by co-writer, Ivor Novello-nominated singer-songwriter Boo Hewerdine.

A video to accompany the song features footage taken at social care locations in North Yorkshire. The project has been sponsored by Hempsons, leading health, social care and charity lawyers. It is part of a long-term campaign by the iCG to promote and highlight social care and fight for improvement to the sector.

Mr Johnson said: “When I joined the iCG in 2023, I mentioned to iCG Chair Mike Padgham that I wrote songs in my spare time, he said, ‘We need a song for the care sector!’.

“Over the next few months, whilst getting to grips with my new job, I began to develop a lyric that tried to capture ‘moments’ from the lives of carers and the people they care for. The phrase ‘Who Cares?’ seemed to work well for the chorus, so slowly it came together.”

Armed with the words, Brian approached his friend Boo Hewerdine who has had songs recorded by kd lang, The Corrs and Eddi Reader and has been described by BBC Music as “one of Britain’s most consistently accomplished songwriters.” The pair had previously had some success with a collaboration that reached No.1 in an iTunes chart in New Zealand.

 “We began writing together during lockdown, just after Brian attended a songwriting workshop I’d run,” said Boo. “We seemed to click immediately and have written a number of songs together over the years - a couple of which appeared on my EP release ‘Singularities.’ One of the songs, ‘The Night is Young’ is now one of my favourites and I perfom it at nearly every gig.”

They worked together on ‘Who Cares?’ via Zoom.

“Boo is based in Glasgow and I’m in North Yorkshire,” added Brian. “Due to my day job and Boo’s various touring and recording commitments, we don’t get together in the same room that often, but we found remote collaboration works for us. We met up online as usual for ‘Who Cares?’ and within an hour Boo had come up with a beautiful melody to accompany the words.”

The basic track (Boo singing and playing guitar, with top session musician Euan Burton on double bass) was recorded last summer but Brian felt it needed an extra element.

“We always felt more voices in the chorus would work well, so approached my friend David Wheale-Davey, musical director of The Skipton Choir, about arranging some choral parts for the song. He did a lovely job but as his choir were busy with preparations for various concerts, I had to look elsewhere for a group to perform on the recording.”

The answer came even closer to home. “I’d recently joined ‘Sing Out! South Craven,’ a new community choir based in my village of Glusburn. I asked if they’d like to get involved and despite only having formed a few months previously, they more than rose to the challenge.” The choir was recorded in their own rehearsal space at Glusburn Institute.

To accompany the song, Brian has directed and edited a video, shot by Silsden-based film-maker Dawn Feather at yorkshireedit.co.uk

The pair filmed sequences with staff and residents in care and nursing homes belonging to Mr Padgham’s Saint Cecilia’s Care Group and with ubu in Harrogate, who support vulnerable adults to live independently in their communities.

 “We’ve known each other for years but we’d never worked together,” said Brian. “Dawn is currently creating a beautiful documentary called ‘Joy ‘O Dance’, exploring how participation in dance and the arts positively impacts young people’s mental health, but she kindly broke off to help me on this project. I knew Dawn was really good with people and puts them at ease whilst filming, so we were able to get up close and personal and capture really special ‘day in the life’ moments and interactions between carers and their clients,” said Brian. “We were so privileged to be able to get access to their lives for a few hours and share the positive aspects of the care world and I think the images shot really support the song’s tone.”

The song, distributed by Horus Music, is available to purchase as a digital download at:  https://thecareworkerscharity.bandcamp.com/track/who-cares


Watch the video for the song here: https://www.independentcaregroup.co.uk

 

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