Choir keeps deaf singers 'connected' to music

"I still love music and it is a way for me to just enjoy it," says Donna Burrows.

Donna is deaf, but through the Leeds Sign and Sing choir, she has been able to keep music in her life.

"I cannot imagine not being involved," she says.

Donna has been attending the choir sessions since they began last summer.

It takes popular songs, such as Abba's Dancing Queen and Katy Perry's Roar, and breaks them down line by line into sign language.

For Donna, it is an escape from everyday life: "It is a chance to switch off and just focus on singing and signing.

"Sometimes we are laughing so much, it is not serious. There is not like one person teaching, there is no following somebody, we are all putting in ideas."

The group, run by the Leeds Society for Deaf and Blind People, includes a mixture of people. Some are deaf, others have reduced hearing and some are able to hear.

Annie Simpson, who has had reduced hearing since she was a child, believes it is a vital service.

"Being deafened or hard of hearing or deaf can be quite isolating, so I think it is really important that people have opportunities like this to meet other people in a relaxed environment."

She says the lack of pressure makes it more enjoyable and that is what has kept her attending since last June.

"It is probably one of the best parts of my week to be honest, it is a really nice group of people, really friendly and you do not have to get anything right - it is very relaxed."

Leeds Society for Deaf and Blind People offers sign language lessons and awareness training sessions and this year celebrate 160 years as a charity.

Trustee Christine Roche says: "What we are doing is creating something that they will enjoy and it is in a British Sign Language format.

"People do come because they want to learn more and they learn new signs when they are here, so it works in lots of different ways."

She says that a lot of the fun for those taking part in the class is being able to work together to create the interpretations of the songs and that it makes it all the more enjoyable.

"We all have this ownership of creation, that we have actually made something that we enjoy."

"Every time we come to the same part we always look at each other and smile because you are remembering how we have created it and it brings it all to life really."

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