Bo'ness Belles cash in for charities

Having previously raised £37,000 for local charities, the choir’s goal was to hit the £40,000 mark by the end of 2023.

The 17-strong group managed to smash that target, raising an incredible £6000 to be split between ten nominated charities.

And on Thursday they met with representatives of those groups in Bo’ness Old Kirk – where the girls regularly rehearse – to hand over £600 to each of the recipients.

They included Deanburn Primary School’s Parent Council, Bloomin' Bo'ness, Bo'ness Storehouse Foodbank, Big Bad Wolf Children's Theatre Company, Grange Youth Club, Linlithgow Link, The Tuesday Club, Children's Theatre Bo'ness and Boness Utd Community FC.

Jeni Mallace, who founded the Belles in 2013, was delighted to have raised such an incredible amount.

She said: “Our aim was to reach £40,000 by the end of the year; in the end, we hit £43,000.

“We decided to split the fundraising total last year between ten charities, to celebrate our tenth anniversary year.

“I told the charities we might not be able to raise that much for them as it was being split. We were chuffed to be able to present them each with £600 on Thursday – and the charities were equally delighted.”

As well as singing engagements, the Belles managed to raise £6000 by staging a host of events, including a bake sale, quiz night and a Belle of the Ball event at West Lothian Golf Club in Linlithgow.

A bucket collection at their free B in the Park concert in the Glebe last August, staged as a thank you to everyone in the town who had supported them, raised £380 alone.

Jeni said: “We’d like to thank everyone who supported our events last year. We couldn’t do what we do without the support we receive locally and it’s very much appreciated by all the Belles.”

Jeni first hit on the idea of singing at local care homes in 2013 and that Christmas, the then 10-strong Belles brought joy to elderly residents by singing a range of much-loved songs.

The choir proved so popular that they started getting requests for summer visits too, as well as invites to perform at local events and organisations.

Donations, given to the choir from bookings outside care homes, have enabled members to do a lot of good in the community in the last ten years and they’ve no plans to give up any time soon.

“We’ve got bookings up until October this year so it’s safe to say we’re still in demand!”, said Jeni. “Someone asked if we’d be giving up after our tenth year but we all love what we do.

“We had a busy Christmas period, singing at 11 local care homes as well as the reindeer event at Newtown Park, the Dome in Edinburgh to raise funds for the children’s hospital and staging our family and friends concert at Bridgeness Club.

“We’re now busy rehearsing again for our summer season at local care homes. We’re only raising funds this year for one charity but we’re not setting any targets or putting ourselves under any pressure. We’re just going to raise as much as we can and have fun.”

The Belles B24 programme is already shaping up to be a busy one and women will be at the heart of their work.

Jeni added: “We’ve decided to celebrate sisterhood so our song selections will be focused on legendary female singers; the iconic women who have made a name for themselves in the music industry.”

The Belles have become pretty iconic themselves in the last ten years so it’s a great fit!