Richard's story: singing again with Samson Singers
Written by Annabelle Lawrence
Richard joined his first choir on his ninth birthday. These days he sings with Samson Singers, one of our ChoirBLAST Community Choirs, and he says it makes him feel 60 years younger.
What happened in between is a story he was kind enough to write down for us, and we want to share it with you.
Part one: a lifetime of singing
For Richard, singing was never really a hobby. It was just there, in the background of everything, from childhood onwards.
"I joined the church choir on my 9th birthday and kept this up until I went to Durham University to study Geology. I soon got involved in the college choir, followed by the University Choir led by the outstanding Brian Primmer, who amongst other musical gems led us to perform the awesome Requiem by Verdi in Durham Cathedral."
Verdi's Requiem in Durham Cathedral. I can't quite imagine what that must have felt like as a student. Big, probably. And loud, in the best way. Two evenings a week wasn't enough, though.
"Not being satisfied with just 2 evenings a week, I joined the Castle Madrigal Singers which was not what the name suggested. Not a madrigal in sight! We learned works by Duruflé, Berlioz, Stanford, Britten, Bruckner. Really complex and challenging works."
"To keep my Anglican tradition I also went to evensong every Sunday in the cathedral."
That's a lot of singing for someone who was, officially, there to study rocks!
After university he came home and went straight back to the church choir. This time he learned the organ too, and eventually became organist and choir master at Shere church, and at Blackheath, a village about a mile from where he lived. So he'd gone from the boy in the choir stalls to the person leading them.
Part two: when the music stopped
"It was while cycling to a Christmas Carol rehearsal at this church that I fell off my bike and broke my back. After 6 months in hospital and losing all sense in my legs I could obviously no longer play the pedal-board on a church organ, and being in a wheelchair severely limited my attendance at church choir practices. I couldn't get into the choir stalls. So my singing in a group of people stopped. And I was diagnosed as having MS."
On his way to a carol rehearsal, of all things.
It's hard to read that without thinking about how much changed at once. His body, obviously. But also the organ, the choir, the Sunday routine, the people he sang alongside every week. A lot of what had shaped his life for decades just wasn't accessible to him any more. Not because he'd stopped wanting it, but because the spaces weren't easily available to get to it.
I suspect quite a few people reading this will recognise some version of that. The thing you love is still there. You just can't reach it.
Part three: singing again
Fifteen years on, Richard is back in a group of people, singing.
"Samson Singers has been a simply wonderful way to keep and re-invent my lifetime of singing!"
"Now, 15 years later, I am able to sing again with the Samson Singers under the inspiring leadership of Phoebe Gaydon and I feel 60 years younger."
I love that he says re-invent. It isn't the same as Durham Cathedral or leading a village church choir, and it doesn't need to be. It's something new that still carries all of that history with it. Someone who's sung Bruckner and Britten probably notices things in a rehearsal that the rest of us don't, and having witnessed it, I know that's nice for Phoebe too.
Mostly, though, what comes through is the simple things. Being in a room with other people. Breathing together. Making a sound you couldn't make on your own.
About Samson Singers and The Samson Centre for MS
Samson Singers is a ChoirBLAST Community Choir for adults living with MS. We set it up in partnership with The Samson Centre for MS in Guildford, and the first session ran in November 2025. It's led by our founder, Phoebe Gaydon.
The idea is pretty simple. Group singing is good for breathing and circulation, which matters a lot when you're living with MS. But it's also just a nice thing to do with other people. So the sessions are social and joyful, never clinical. Nobody is there to be assessed. For members who can't get to the Centre in person, there's an online option too, so missing a week doesn't mean missing out.
The Samson Centre was set up by people with MS, for people with MS, and it supports around 250 people of all ages from its home at the Guildford Waterside Centre. Under one roof, members can get specialist physiotherapy, exercise classes, gym sessions and oxygen therapy.
They're open to anyone with MS at any stage, from people who've just been diagnosed and want some reassurance through to people with progressive symptoms. Carers and families get practical help and support as well.
The Centre receives no NHS or government funding, so it relies on fundraising and donations to keep going. And alongside all the practical support, it's a place where people with MS and the people who care for them can sit down over a coffee, swap ideas and feel a bit less on their own. Which, when you think about it, is quite a lot like what a choir does.
That's one of the reasons this partnership makes so much sense to us. ChoirBLAST exists to make group singing open to everyone, and that includes people for whom the usual choir stalls, quite literally, aren't an option.
Get involved
A big thank you to Richard for letting us share this. It isn't always easy to write our own personal experiences, and he's done it with real generosity.
If you or someone you know is living with MS in Surrey and might like to sing with us, in person or online, you'd be very welcome at Samson Singers. Find out more on our website or get in touch with The Samson Centre for MS.
And if Richard's story has stayed with you, maybe pass it on. Share it with a friend, or come and say hello on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or TikTok.
Photos by Martin Bamford.
