On March 12th, a small group of Sing Inside volunteers headed to Madingley Hall outside Cambridge to support a Learning Together graduate Rosca, who was speaking and performing at a fundraising dinner for the programme. Learning Together is an organisation that brings together prisoners and university students to study for academic courses, and aims to provide the opportunity for barriers to education to be overcome.
We had a brief rehearsal in Trinity before getting taxis to the venue, where we met up with Rosca and discussed our accompaniment parts to his song ‘Free’ that he would be performing. After a brief sandwich break we returned to the dinner, where we sang Billy Joel’s ‘And So It Goes’ – a firm workshop favourite. Rosca then spoke about his experience with Learning Together, and his journey into the music industry. It was very moving to hear him speak so eloquently about his past and how, through Learning Together, he has been able to realise his ambitions of being a musician. What really struck me was the way he often referred to his LT family, some of whom were present at the dinner, so it was lovely to be able to contribute to his performance.
Overall, it was a really enjoyable experience to be part of this event, and hopefully it will help to raise the profile of both Sing Inside and Learning Together, whose work can clearly have a hugely positive impact on people’s lives!
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