A community choir set up to support dementia sufferers and their loved ones is to going from strength to strength as the choir reflects on it's first public performances.

The 'Every Voice Choir' is led by choirmaster Bryan Marshall and operates every fortnight out of St Augustine's Church in Dumbarton, with the numbers involved growing with every week.

The choir first started in late September last year and expanded from efforts from the West Dunbartonshire Dementia Resource Centre to make the area more 'dementia-friendly', with those at various stages of the dementia journey, as well as carers and members of the local community taking part and performing.

West Dunbartonshire dementia adviser Fiona Kane has been a key part in putting the choir together and explained the role of the Scottish weather in putting it together.

She said: "One of the things that came out of our monthly meetings was that while people really enjoyed the allotment, it was an activity that could only run in good weather, so we wanted to run an alternative.

"Music really helps with issues such as social isolation and anxiety, so we felt it would be a good choice."

The group then contacted Bryan and decided to set up a couple of initial trial sessions for the choir in St Augustine's church hall, and soon the initial ten involved in the first trial sessions expanded to around fifty members, and the choir moved into the main church hall.

Bryan and the Every Voice choir was nominated for a Provost's Civic Award this year and the choir has been busy planning potential future performances, including completing their first performance for patients at the Vale of Leven Hospital.

Fiona said: "It's hard to bottle the significance of the choir. One of our male members of the choir told me after the Vale of Leven performance that he was buzzing and it really lifted his confidence and given him a sense of purpose in putting smiles on the faces of the patients.

"The hospital has actually invited us back to perform there again, and we're also hoping to set up a Christmas event for December and looking to have other local groups come along and join us on the day, as well as hopefully building some connections with local schools when they come back from their holidays."

The choir meets up every second Wednesday for rehearsals in St Augustine's between 1.30pm and 3pm and Fiona is urging anyone interested to come along.

She added: "It's a really social thing and it's about people coming together and performing as a group, as well as making connections.

"It's not just about having a singalong because we're learning different songs that few of us have heard and about new techniques as well, so it helps the members to learn to think about things as well."