March 30, 2019
Jayne Roscoe knows a thing or two about putting on a show. Before she came to work here at Virgin Atlantic she spent many years as a reporter and producer working for the BBC. Five years ago she retired from that role and joined us in our small occupational health team, who look after the physical, financial and mental health of our people. That’s incredibly important stuff. So what was Jayne doing this morning belting out some classic tunes with 200 friends for our customers at Gatwick Airport? It’s called Rock Choir, it’s show business and it’s truly uplifting.
Nik and Jayne get ready to rock
Rock Choirs exist all over the UK for people to come together and enjoy a good sing song, often at events or big celebrations. If the effect is remarkable for the audience, it has fantastic benefits for the singers. “It’s therapeutic, social and fun, and learning the words is good for the brain,” says Jayne, who is known to practice singing in her car on the way to work. The Rock Choir performing at London Gatwick this morning is the combined Horsham, Reigate and Haslemere choirs. As well as entertaining our customers the choir will be collecting money for our charity partnership WE.org
Joining Jayne and the Rock Choir for this special performance is our Gatwick Duty Manager Nik Glennon-Farris, although we’re not quite sure how good he is at singing. “We love making our customers’ journeys special,” he said. “And today, having the Rock Choir at Gatwick, has been wonderful. Our customers loved it and it got their holidays off to the best possible start.”
Jayne first heard about WE.org from a friend’s daughter who went on an early Virgin Atlantic scholarship trip. “I remember thinking this was an amazing thing that Virgin Atlantic did for young people,” she said. “Then when I joined the airline I got to see the impact the charity has from the other side and thought his would be a great thing to get behind.”
Rock Choir welcomes people of all ages and abilities. Find out more on their website.
A massive thank you to everyone from Rock Choir who gave their time, our people who came in on their days off to rattle the tins and to our incredibly generous and fun customers.
Dave is the co-editor of Ruby, the Virgin Atlantic Blog. He has worked at Virgin Atlantic for over two decades. In that time he has amassed some truly epic memories but never lost his fascination with the airline world. Dave's on a mission to bring you some great insights into our people, planes and planet.
