Singers celebrate Win’s 97th birthday at Sheffield care home

A small group from the award-winning barbershop chorus staged a mini birthday concert for Win Topham of Loxley outside the window of a room in Northfield Nursing Home on Roebuck Road.

Win, who is an honorary member of Sheffield Harmony and also received flowers and a huge chocolate cake from the singers, said: “I enjoyed it very much and would like to send love and thanks to everybody in Sheffield Harmony.”

Six members of Sheffield Harmony were given permission to sing at the nursing home which is part of the Palmsrow Health Care group, hit hard by the Covid crisis at the beginning of the outbreak.

Under current guidelines Northfield is closed to visitors but operates “window visits” to enable residents to remain in touch with relatives.

The cheery sing song went down a storm not only with the birthday girl but with grateful nursing home staff.

Nicola Richards, chair of Sheffield Care Association and owner of the Palms Row Health Care group said: “We can’t thank Sheffield Harmony enough for what they did. It was brilliant at a time like this and really special.”

She added: “We have had a tough time but we have had amazing support from the community and things like this are really touching.

“ When you are in the midst of this pandemic, you can imagine what care homes have gone through but there have been some special moments and this was one of them. It really lifted spirits.”

The six singers, representing the 40-strong chorus, included president Carole Hall, assistant musical director Danuta Clarkson, treasurer Cheryl McCormack, lead singer Marie Hessell, baritone Jandice Jardine and former chorus bass Sue Hutchinson.

They sang a four-part harmony version of “Happy Birthday”, the upbeat sixties hit “One Fine Day”, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from the musical Lion King and Beatles hit “Can’t Buy Me Love” and they wore the turquoise scarves that Win had bought as a gift for the entire chorus about five years ago.

Editor's message: Thank you for reading this story. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on our advertisers and thus our revenues. The Star is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism. You can subscribe here www.thestar.co.uk/subscriptions for unlimited access to Sheffield news and information online. Every subscription helps us continue providing trusted, local journalism and campaign on your behalf for our city.