A UNIQUE men’s health event in Yarriambiack Shire on Sunday will use music to build community connections and social health.
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Musician James Rigby will lead the Sing Out workshop at a dinner event in Boolite Hall.
The event is aimed at farmers in the Minyip area, where frost devastated chickpea and lentil crops last year.
Yarrilinks – Yarriambiack Shire’s Landcare group – received a Royal Flying Doctor Service grant for the event.
Rigby is familiar with the Wimmera, after leading a community singing session at the Rupanyup Dirt Music Festival at the weekend. He also led a choir performance at the Murtoa Stick Shed last year.
He said community singing aimed to build social cohesion and health.
“We will spend an hour doing some warm-ups, breaking the ice and getting comfortable by singing short songs,” he said.
“Then we’ll break and have a chat, which will be a really important part of the event.
“We come back for a second hour of singing – with a focus on two or three songs – and will revisit what people liked in the first hour and build on that.
“The really delightful thing that happens in this sort of session is it becomes a shared space.
“It’s not a circumstance where some are successful and others don’t do so well – it’s a situation where everyone can have the same experience of being nourished and feeling strong.
“There’s something really visceral about the way it connects people.
“It’s not a singing event – it’s about coming away with your mind and soul nourished.”
Organisers said people could book tickets by calling Yarrilinks Landcare facilitator Tim Inkster on 0488 662 199 or by emailing tim@yarrilinks.org.au.