{"id":819431,"date":"2026-03-11T18:46:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T18:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/819431\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T18:46:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T18:46:32","slug":"side-by-side-choir-marking-10th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/819431\/","title":{"rendered":"Side by Side Choir marking 10th anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"advert has-text-align-left has-luminous-vivid-amber-background-color has-background\"><strong>Support quality, independent, local journalism\u2026that matters<br \/><\/strong><br \/>From just <strong>\u00a31 a month<\/strong> you can help fund our work \u2013 and use our website without adverts. <a href=\"https:\/\/membership.caerphilly.observer\/join?mtm_campaign=member_appeal&amp;mtm_source=website&amp;mtm_placement=article_top\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Become a member today<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Side-by-Side-Choir-MalaperPhotography-1.webp.webp\" alt=\"Members of Side by Side Choir\" class=\"wp-image-1057398\"\/>Members of Side by Side Choir<\/p>\n<p>Ten years ago, Side by Side Choir was set up to make music \u201caccessible, welcoming, and supportive for everyone\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The choir was set up in Caerphilly in 2016 to provide a welcoming musical space for people with Autism. It has since expanded to include people with long-term health conditions, additional needs, and those experiencing social isolation.<\/p>\n<p>Rikki Pullen, the choir\u2019s founder and musical director, said: \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.raisingourvoice.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Side by Side<\/a> began with a simple belief that music should be accessible, welcoming and supportive for everyone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOver the past ten years we have built a community where people feel safe to participate at their own pace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Choir member Kerri said: \u201cThe choir members are incredibly welcoming and I felt comfortable walking into choir on my own when my partner was not able to attend, as the members are now like friends. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe use of [Microsoft] Teams means people who cannot attend in person can still take part. We even joined from our holiday in Spain and came away feeling really positive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Side-by-Side-Choir-MalaperPhotography-2.webp.webp\" alt=\"Side by Side Choir performing\" class=\"wp-image-1057399\"\/>Side by Side Choir performing<\/p>\n<p>Recently, the group celebrated being named Charity Choir of the Year at the Wales Prestige Awards. <\/p>\n<p>Rikki said: \u201cWinning Charity Choir of the Year in our tenth year feels like a celebration of everything our members and volunteers have achieved together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The choir will celebrate its tenth anniversary with a free-to-attend concert at Caerphilly Workmen\u2019s Hall on June 27.<\/p>\n<p>As part of its anniversary celebrations, the choir has launched its <a href=\"http:\/\/justgiving.com\/campaign\/sbs10for10\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u201c10 for 10\u201d community campaign<\/a>, aiming to fundraise and raise awareness of the choir\u2019s work.<\/p>\n<p>New members are welcome, with free weekly rehearsals every Tuesday at 6.30pm at Caerphilly Workmen\u2019s Hall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"advert has-text-align-left has-luminous-vivid-amber-background-color has-background\"><strong>Support quality, independent, local journalism\u2026that matters<br \/><\/strong><br \/>From just <strong>\u00a31 a month<\/strong> you can help fund our work \u2013 and use our website without adverts.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/membership.caerphilly.observer\/join?mtm_campaign=member_appeal&amp;mtm_source=website&amp;mtm_placement=article_bottom\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Become a member today<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Malaper Photography<\/p>\n<p>Malaper Photography<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Support quality, independent, local journalism\u2026that mattersFrom just \u00a31 a month you can help fund our work \u2013 and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8818],"tags":[663,381,748,69752,236039,171857,347,393,4884,236040,16,15],"class_list":["post-819431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bristol","tag-autism","tag-bristol","tag-britain","tag-caerphilly","tag-caerphilly-workmens-hall","tag-choir","tag-disability","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-side-by-side-choir","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116212032435712450","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}