Sally was born in Leicester and moved to Devon with her family at the age of 7. At the age of 16 she won a music scholarship to Kings College, Taunton and it was there that her love of choral singing began. She went on to do a music degree at Birmingham University but then chose to follow her childhood dream of becoming a nurse.
Having completed her Registered General Nurse training at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, Sally continued to work there until embarking on a voluntary project for 6 months in Tanzania. On her return she took up a post on the oncology unit at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. From there, Sally undertook a paediatric nursing conversion course, followed by a postgraduate diploma, and for the last 20 years she has worked as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner in oncology outpatients, working with children who have Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.
Sally has continued to sing regularly throughout her nursing career, with the Tallis Chamber choir while in London and with Ex Cathedra in Birmingham since 2000. After becoming involved with Ex Cathedra’s education team, shortly after joining the choir, Sally was able to combine her love of singing and nursing, developing the award-winning project ‘Singing Medicine’. Every Friday for 20 years, a team of Ex Cathedra vocal tutors has worked on the wards at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, enabling children to play through singing. During the pandemic when visits were not possible Sally and the team made individual short films to send to the children, A strong focus of the team is to promote wellbeing and give children choice and freedom within the songs in an environment where they otherwise have very little. Sally works on the project as a vocal tutor and is also the Nursing Advisor, responsible for training, updating and supporting the vocal tutors so that they can work safely and happily within the hospital environment. The project has also been delivered at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, Great Ormond Street, Warwick and Heartlands hospitals and more recently at Kingston Hospital. About 10 years ago Singing Medicine extended to adult patients in hospital. Initially this was specifically at Solihull hospital with adults who had had a stroke. But more recently, Sally and the team have worked with adults in dementia care homes around Shropshire and with stroke patients at Sandwell, Lymington and Kingston hospitals. The aim remains the same – for patients and residents to feel the benefits of singing and particularly singing with others.
1. How long have you been a member of Ex Cathedra and why did you join?
I joined Ex Cathedra in 2000. I had moved from London to Birmingham for work and wanted to carry on singing. Having studied music at Birmingham University some years before I asked a lecturer from the University for suggestions of suitable choirs for me to join in Birmingham. He recommended Ex Cathedra and put me in contact with Jeffrey. There followed a really rather scary audition and a Mozart Requiem in Lichfield Cathedral. I assume both must have been ok – almost 25 years on I am still here!
2. What does a typical day look like for you?
From Monday to Thursday each week I work as the Leukaemia Advanced Nurse Practitioner at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. My day always starts very early, walking my 2 dogs before heading off to work. Work is usually a day of reviewing/assessing and treating children who are either due chemotherapy or may have come into clinic unwell, organising changes of oral chemotherapy doses according to recent blood test results and generally ensuring that everything runs smoothly for the patients and their families. Although my job has lots of routine elements to it, I love the fact that I can never be quite sure how a day is going to pan out. I also love the fact that because the treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia lasts for about 2 years, I have the opportunity to develop close relationships with the children and their families, supporting them through an extremely difficult time.
Most Fridays are Singing Medicine days and so I will either be at the Children’s Hospital or sometimes in adult centres around the country. It is always a wonderful end to my week with a team of people that I love to work with!
Around my working life I enjoy spending time with my family, walking and paddle boarding! And of course, I love singing regularly with Ex Cathedra!
3. If you could choose to perform again any piece you have performed before with Ex Cathedra, what would it be, and & why?
This is a really tough question! Often the most recent concert is my current favourite! It also depends a lot on how good my food experience is between the rehearsal and concert (we have learned over the years that noodles or pizza are very good preparation for a concert!)
I always love a Passion in Symphony Hall at Easter and the Candlelights at Christmas. I have also loved singing Carmina Burana with Birmingham Royal Ballet on various occasions, but particularly at the London Coliseum in 2015 (although that may be as much to do with having a couple of nights away with no responsibility other than to turn up and sing as the singing itself!). I don’t think we have done it since then so I would really love to do it again! I always enjoy doing a series of performances like this as it gives me a few days that are a world away from my everyday life. I also enjoy the fact that we usually sing from the pit and if I manage to sit at the right end of the row of sopranos, I can watch some of the ballet!
4. What’s your musical “guilty secret”?
My musical ‘guilty secret’ is that I am a big fan of Take That, and more specifically of Gary Barlow. However, that is not the end of it… I frequently day dream that Gary comes to visit ‘Singing Medicine’ at the hospital and likes it so much that he writes a song with him on lead vocals and the vocal tutors as backing singers! Obviously, the song goes to number one and we tour with Gary around Britain and the rest of the world! So – if you’re reading this Gary…