St. Cecilia Nursing Home in Scarborough and Alba Rose Care Home in Pickering, both owned by St. Cecilia Care Group, feature in the video for the song “Who Cares?”
The song was released by the Independent Care Group (ICG) as part of a campaign to promote social care and call for improvements in the sector.
'Who cares? 'The song was co-written by ICG marketing executive Brian Johnson and performed by Ivor Novello-nominated singer-songwriter Boo Hewerdine.
Hewardine has had songs recorded by kd lang, the corrs, eddi reader and others.
Johnson said: “When I joined ICG in 2023, I told ICG Chairman Mike Padgham that I was writing songs in my spare time and he said, 'We need a song for the care sector!' I said,” he said.
“Over the next few months, while working on my new job, I began writing lyrics that sought to capture ‘moments’ in the lives of caregivers and the people they care for.
“It seemed to work well for the phrase chorus, 'Who cares?' and slowly came together. ”
Once the lyrics were complete, Johnson approached Hewerdine and the two collaborated via Zoom.
Hewerdine said: “We started writing songs together during lockdown, shortly after Brian attended a songwriting workshop I ran.
“We seemed to hit it off right away and wrote many songs together over the years, some of which were included on my EP release, Singularities.
“One of the songs, 'The Night is Young,' is now one of my favorites and I play it at almost every show.”
Mr Johnson added: “Boo is based in Glasgow and I live in North Yorkshire.
“Due to my day job and Boo's various touring and recording commitments, we don't often get together in the same room, but we've found that collaborating remotely works well for us.
“We met online as usual for 'Who Cares?' and within an hour, Boo came up with a beautiful melody to go with the words.”
The basic track, with Hewardine singing and playing guitar and session musician Euan Barton playing double bass, was recorded last summer, but Johnson felt additional elements were needed.
He said: “We always felt that more voices would work well in the chorus, so we consulted our friend David Whale-Davey, the musical director of Skipton Choir, about arranging the choral part of the song. did.
“He did a great job, but his choir was busy preparing for various concerts, so we had to look elsewhere for a group to perform on the recording.”
“I recently joined a new community choir, Sing Out! South Craven, based in my village Gulsburn.
“I asked them if they wanted to join, and they more than accepted the challenge, even though they had only been together for a few months.”
The choir was recorded in a dedicated rehearsal space at the Glassburn Institute.
To accompany the song, Mr Johnson directed and edited a video, which was shot by Silsden-based filmmaker Dawn Feather of yorkshireedit.co.uk.
The sequence was filmed with staff and residents from two St Cecilia's Care Group Homes, as well as Ubu in Harrogate.
The song raises money for the Care Workers Charity and is sponsored by health, social care and charity solicitors, The Hempsons.
Who Cares?, distributed by Horus Music, is available for purchase as a digital download at https://thecareworkerscharity.bandcamp.com/track/who-cares.
