On the evening of Tuesday 18th June 2024, St. Mary’s Church was filled with music and song as we hosted our very first Sing for Sanctuary choir concert and fundraiser!

Held as part of Refugee Week, the event brought together a diverse range of choirs and performers in celebration of sanctuary, welcome, and solidarity with people seeking asylum here in Swansea.

The concert featured heartfelt and powerful performances from Croeso Choir & Gower Harmony, Swansea Sing with Us, St. Joseph’s Cathedral School choir, the African Choir, Carer’s Choir, The Eclectics, and Swansea World Singers. Each group brought their own unique energy.

Halfway through, the fantastic Kate Davies lead several of the choirs in singing Thina Simunye together, with Bach displaying some incredible vocals that filled the whole church!

The event came to a close with one final song sung as a collective, with all the choirs and the audience – ‘This is Home’ by Sophia Efthimiou. This felt like the perfect song to sing collectively during Refugee Week with the theme of Our Home. The lyrics are:

This is Home, where I belong,
In this breath, in this heart;
This is home, where I belong,
In this voice, in this song

Thank you to the amazing choirs who helped make this event a reality, and to the generosity of those who attended and donated. Funds were raised to support our work as a City of Sanctuary, building a culture of hospitality and inclusion, especially for refugees and people seeking safety from war and persecution.

We’d also like to extend a huge thank you to our sponsors for the event: Alan & Elaine Griffiths, Postcode Lottery Community Fund, Swansea Council Community Cohesion Team and Welsh Refugee Council, who helped us to make the evening such a success.

See the full programme for the event below, which features information about all the choirs involved.