How a Farnham dog choir is turning singing into a social lifeline

Expect rounds of ap-paws all round at the end of get togethers in Farnham where Dogs Choir is bringing together singers with two legs and those with four.

Puppy Love, Who Let the Dogs Out, Hound Dog – you’d expect them all to be on the set list for members of a very special choir in Farnham.

Jeanine founded Singing with Dogs UK in 2020 which has since led to its subsidiary Dogs Choir UK. The choir welcomes dog lovers, dog owners and dog carers of all ages, from 11 upwards with an adult, with the simple idea of reducing loneliness.

“One issue for dog owners is that much of the time, they can’t bring their dogs to classes, which creates a barrier. It can also be quite isolating to have a dog, so Dogs Choir brings together ‘dog people’ – owners and carers – to do something they love,” Jeanine explains.

“The dogs sometimes vocalise, but mainly enjoy the music, bond with their owners, and are also helped to socialise with other dogs. We are going to be starting the Howlelujah Chorus soon, as an ongoing project.”

Dogs Choir runs every Sunday in Farnham and a portion of any profits is donated to nominated dog rescues, and as a grassroots choir will continue to grow.

Dogs must be kept on their leads, and everyone coming has to bring a dog, due to licensing. 

Having moved to Farnham last year, Jeanine is keen to grow her roots there too as a descendant of the Hack family stretching back to 1520 and says she “definitely feels a tangible connection with the Wrecclesham area” adding that she recently found her ancestral graves after months of looking in Green Lane Cemetery.

“My great grandfather was the cemetery caretaker when George Sturt passed away, so he would have buried him. I found my great, great, great grandparents’ house (who had 15 children) recently, in Middle Bourne Lane, and the owner’s tennis coach is George Sturt’s descendant. So it’s a very small world!

“My ancestral churches are St Thomas on the Bourne (they all got christened and married on the former site), St Andrew’s Farnham (around the 1700s was the Hack’s church) and St Peter’s Wrecclesham. There is a Hack plot there, and I am trying to find my grandad’s first wife, Florence Amy Wilkinson, who died young.

“The Hack family were hop growers and farmers, but were also strong and carved gravestones (my grandad) – who is mentioned in one of George Sturt’s history books as a young boy in petticoats!”

Jeanine is also an actor and is exploring the possibility of a youth theatre project about her history and the history of Wrecclesham and the Bourne which she thinks is important younger people know about.

Anyone interested should email her at hello@grammaticarts.com.

For more on the choir contact Jeanine on dogschoiruk@hotmail.com and see more at facebook.com/DogsChoirUKSingwithYourDog.

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