Episode 3: Hand-Me-Down

Here We Are - The Pathhead Choir Songwriting Project

This episode from various participants in the project - choir members, songwriters, arrangers and audience members talk about their experiences of the project, and also Barbara Hateley, one of the Here We Are project songwriters, talks about her experience of being in the project and being involved in writing the song 'Hand-Me-Down.'
You can watch the video of the performance of Hand-Me-Down at
https://youtu.be/-O_6FZqdycc
HAND-ME-DOWN (a song created from The Pathhead Choir Songwriting Project - Here We Are)
Lyrics by Barbara Hateley with Sophie Bancroft and The Pathhead Choir Songwriting Group
Music by Sophie Bancroft
The soup-maker stands side by side with her daughter
Onions, lentils and leeks fill the bench
“I made this soup long ago with my mother”
The soup-maker says
The soup-maker moves in with daughter and family
Pea and ham soup bubbles hot on the stove
Wean in the high-chair wears pea and ham face paint
The soup-maker smiles
Hand me down, hand me down, I am warmth, nurture and love
Hand me down, hand me down, I am warmth, nurture and love
The wean, now a mother, stands by her own daughter
Mud covered carrots sit on the bench
“I found them in the garden, can we make some soup?”
Young soup-maker begs
Hand me down, hand me down, I am warmth, nurture and love
Hand me down, hand me down, I am warmth, nurture and love
The soup-maker lies in her bed in the care home
Velvet brown, bone marrow broth, brought from home
steams in a cup that is held by her daughter
The soup-maker sips
The soup-maker’s daughter returns to her family
Holding the cup that was once full with broth
Now filled with mem’ries of onions and lentils
The soup-maker’s love
Hand me down, hand me down, I am warmth, nurture and love
Hand me down, hand me down, I am warmth, nurture and love
HERE WE ARE - The Pathhead Choir Songwriting Project
saw Sophie Bancroft guiding a group of Pathhead Choir members aged 60+ to write original songs for The Pathhead Choir to perform. These songs were then arranged and notated for the choir by Pathhead Music Collective musicians and arrangers, rehearsed and performed by The Pathhead Choir, conducted by Sophie and choir co-leader Gina Rae, with Dave Milligan on piano. The choir gave three concerts around the Lothians in June 2023, performing eight new, original pieces.
Full information about the project, and sheet music and choir arrangements can be found at https://autumnvoices.co.uk/projects/the-pathhead-choir/