The Hays Travel Foundation has donated £1,500 to Opera North in support of a vocal project, set to engage approximately 500 children in Yorkshire and the North East.

This is an award-winning national opera company with an extensive track record of engagement work and runs a successful programme of creative education projects with schools across the north of England each year.

The awarded grant will contribute towards The Big Sing – a vocal project, comprising of singing workshops and public performances, for approximately 500 primary and secondary school students aged 8-11.

The aim of this particular project is to promote and build a positive attitude towards singing and music activities among children and teachers.

Jacqui Cameron, Education Director at Opera North said: “The Big Sing is a great way of engaging schoolchildren with singing while also giving them an insight into the musical landscape which existed during WWI and encouraging them to consider the impact of war on people’s daily lives.

"We are delighted that the Hays Travel Foundation has chosen to support us in this way. Their help ensures that we are able to champion the pleasure of group singing in even more schools across the North of England, bringing hundreds of pupils together to perform with the professional singers of the Chorus of Opera North."

It is hoped that this attitude will be sustained after the culmination of the activity and will enable children to access high-level choral activities, particularly those based at schools in areas of disadvantage or with limited opportunities to access these types of activity.

Mike Dillon, trustee of the Hays Travel Foundation said: "We saw ‘The Big Sing’ as a great way of helping young people to experience the joy of group singing while enabling them to appreciate both - the enormous sacrifice and the terrible tragedy of war. We always try to support projects that make a positive difference to young people within the communities where Hays Travel operates, and we felt this project fitted the bill very well."

Throughout June and July 2018, the Big Sing: World War One will culminate in public performances at venues across Yorkshire.