It’s Random Acts of Kindness Day, and we’re celebrating the people whose everyday actions make a lasting difference. For the past seven years, Lu Schiazza has been leading the workplace choir at Companies House headquarters in Cardiff, bringing colleagues together and raises money to help share the healing power of live music.
Reflecting on what the choir means, Lu says: “It’s nice to be in a group where you’re just accepted for who you are. Singing helps to calm you down, it improves your mood. I suppose in a modern world and with the modern stresses we all have, it can help.”
In a large organisation, the choir creates connections across departments and roles. As Lu explains: “I’ve been running the choir for about seven years. You could ask any of my choir members, they would agree that you meet people from around the business that you wouldn’t ordinarily cross paths with.”
The benefits are not only social and emotional, but physical too. Lu explains: “Even the actions of warming up, breathing deeply, and opening the diaphragm, all oxygenate the blood, creating more white blood cells, which strengthens the whole body. The breathing rate slows, deepens, releasing endorphins, increasing a profound sense of wellbeing.”
The choir itself has been going for 14 years, and during that time it has reached far beyond the walls of Companies House. “We have been able to give back to the community by visiting care homes around Cardiff and singing at charity events to raise money. Performing for the residents means so much to us all.” Through these performances, the choir has supported Music in Hospitals & Care, helping to share live music with people who may not otherwise get to experience it.
Having worked at Companies House for 27 years, Lu has seen the organisation evolve. Lu adds: “You can imagine when COVID hit that was a big shock for us all, and we had to revert to singing online.” Like many community groups, the choir faced uncertainty as colleagues moved from office-based working to remote and then hybrid patterns. “It went from everyone being in the office, to everyone out of the office, to then becoming hybrid, where you only have to be in the office so many days or a day a week.” Rebuilding the choir after that disruption was not easy. “That had another big impact, and it took us a while, a good while, to get the choir back up to where it was.”
However, Lu remains determined, because she believes deeply in the choir’s value. “Choir isn’t just a nice to have, a fluffy tick box exercise to make sure you’ve covered wellbeing. I am on a bit of a mission to keep the choir numbers growing.”
This Random Acts of Kindness Day, we celebrate Lu’s commitment, persistence and generosity. Through music, she has created a space where colleagues feel accepted, strengthened and connected, and where the wider community benefits too. Her leadership is a reminder that kindness is not always a single moment, but sometimes a sustained act of bringing people together, week after week, and inviting them to share in the joy of music.
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