Children from across Manchester release charity single to help Ukraine

A mum from Chorlton has released a charity single with students from schools across Greater Manchester to raise money for Ukraine. Laurenne Chapman, a fundraiser at the University of Manchester began offering singing and piano lessons to children during the lockdowns and found it to be a great way to help kids with their mental health.

After the lockdowns, Laurenne continued to offer lessons. She explained that her daughter was worried about the war in Ukraine and wanted to help. To Laurenne, getting together a group of pupils and releasing a charity single was a no-brainer.

Read more:'It didn’t feel real': A Ukrainian journey - from fleeing war to being welcomed in Greater Manchester

She said: “There’s an anti-war song by Pete Seegar called Where have all the flowers gone. I was just really impacted by everything that’s going on in Ukraine and so was my daughter, who’s nine, she’s been quite worried about it and so have her friends.

“I’ve got some music pupils as well, singing pupils and I thought to get them to do something positive for their mental health.

“After Covid and everything, the lockdowns, and now with the war, I’m worrying as a mother about her mental health and of my pupils as well. Music is just a really good way of bringing them together and to help them feel like they’re actually doing something.

“They’re raising money for children and families in Ukraine. We just want to raise as much money as possible and to encourage other young children, if they’re worrying about it, to do stuff.

“I taught the song to the children over a week, some of them are my pupils, some of them are Amelia’s friends and they learnt it so quickly. Honestly, they were amazing.”

The group then recorded the cover song in a