Another Landmark Year for Liberty Choir: 2025 has surpassed even our 10th anniversary year
- Expanded into Kent with a new women’s programme at HMP East Sutton Park.
- Recognised by HM The King at Windsor Castle.
- Featured in The Times Crime & Justice Commission Annual Report as a national example of creative rehabilitation.
- Held our first Friends & Family concert in a women’s prison – HMP Send.
- Invited to be the speakers at the Weston Charity Awards, addressing 50 charity leaders.
- Returned to HMP Wandsworth for our first concert there in 10 years.
- Awarded the Longford Prize for “courage, persistence, humanity and originality.”
Longford Trust Fellow, Brian Edmond captured this wonderful short film about Liberty Choir at our Wandsworth Friends & Family concert.
It was screened at the Longford Prize Awards Ceremony.
WE ARE IN ELEVEN PRISONS
We are in eleven prisons shown below. Please watch this space for updates as we add more prisons.
HMP Coldingley
(launched March 2022)
HMP Lewes
(launched May 2023)
HMP Thameside
(launched November 2023)
HMP Brixton
(launched May 2022)
HMP Downview
(returned September 2023)
HMP Pentonville
(launched January 2024)
HMP Send
(launched January 2023)
HMP High Down
(returned September 2023)
HMP East Sutton Park
(launched April 2025)
HMP Wandsworth
(returned March 2023)
HMP Bronzefield
(launched November 2023)
HMP Guys Marsh
(launched January 2026)
Tom ( who sculpted this out of soap as a gift for us) is now out in the community and has sung with the South London Choir and appeared as a guest on 48 Songs: How Music Saved My Life, Liberty Choir Radio, a year-long partnership with National Prison Radio.
Liberty Choir hits the airwaves again!
48 Songs: how music saved my life
Since our last newsletter, our latest radio show 48 Songs: How Music Saved My Life has been broadcast twice a week on National Prison Radio, with the final few shows being put together as this goes out. Each show consists of Liberty Choir co-founder and internationally renowned journalist Ginny Dougary speaking to a person connected with Liberty Choir – ex-prisoners, volunteers and well-known supporters – about the incredible impact that one song has had on their life. Each song is then analysed by MJ Paranzino, exploring musical, cultural and political elements that make the music universally powerful.
Given the personal and emotional nature of the subject, these shows have been incredibly moving to make and listen back to. Crucially they represent the voices of ex-prisoners expressing both their passions and vulnerabilities to current serving prisoners across the country in a notoriously repressed emotional and psychological environment.
Our ambition is to have a Liberty Choir in every prison in the country, to encourage men and women in prisons to find joy, hope and the confidence they need to change their lives. And while we are not there in person yet, these radio shows give a taste of what is possible.
Help us to continue and develop our singing programmes, both within the prison and in the community.
All donations are used to deliver sessions in prisons, support Liberty Choir graduates on the outside and expand Liberty Choir in new prisons.
Liberty Choir volunteers and graduates before the South London Choir weekly rehearsal. Photo by Mark Harrison
Liberty Choir volunteers and graduates before the South London Choir weekly rehearsal. Photo by Mark Harrison
Liberty Choir’s mission, vision and values
The Liberty Choir vision is that the reoffending rates among ex-offenders can be significantly reduced through a network of choirs located within prison and the community. We believe that the economic and social case for the choirs is overwhelming.
Our mission is that by the end of 2023, early 2024, the Liberty Choir will be delivered across 10 prisons along with a ‘through the gate’ arts programme which will be recognised as a major factor in reducing reoffending.
About the choir
Liberty Choir was dreamed up by MJ Paranzino, singer, composer and choir director, and her partner, the journalist and writer, Ginny Dougary, more than ten years ago. Their idea was a full circle charity. The first part, where the seeds of hope are sown, takes the volunteers from MJ’s Choirs (in the community) and others into prisons to create choirs with inmates in a continuous programme of choir singing.
The second half of the circle
is when the seeds flower outside prison as the ex-offenders are ready to be released and become our Liberty Choir graduates joining MJ’s Choirs, where they recognize familiar faces and friends, are part of a community and enjoy a healthy and fun activity.
We are in touch with more than 100 Liberty Choir graduates, some of whom sing regularly in our choirs, others join us for concerts and special events and others still just let us know they are fine by phone or social media and by turning up at choir as a surprise.
In 2023/early 2024 we added EIGHT more prisons:
Video about Liberty Choir created by MJ’s Choirs member John Wilson
Highlights from 2024
DECEMBER 2024
With mulled cider, roasted chestnuts and live music from Rob LeTash, a community Bring & Buy sale brings a welcome smile to the locals on a very dreary December day and rounds up the Liberty Choir Bonanza Fundraising Campaign.
Record-breaking Big Give Christmas Challenge raises £95,754 with Gift Aid.
Liberty Choir end their anniversary year with a performance in Brighton Royal Pavilion’s Music Room where such illustrious names as Gioacchino Rossini also performed and Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde gave readings. New and long-term Liberty Choir Graduates sang alongside volunteers and community choir singers in the beautiful setting. We hope to return in 2025.
SEPTEMBER 2024
Our 3rd annual Friends & Family Concert at HMP Coldingley.
Featuring inspiring performances by both the Coldingly men and their Music Director, Marika Rauscher (a professional opera singer).
Guests included HM Inspectorate of Prisons, Charlie Taylor and the Head of Operations at the King Charles III Charitable Trust, Yvonne Abba-Opoku.
Our Liberty Choir volunteer Suresha hosted a curry evening – all home-made – with drinks and raised more than £500 for Liberty Choir.
APRIL 2024
Liberty Choir singer gains Royal Society of Music award
thanks to one-to-one support from accompanist David
Perkins.
NOVEMBER 2024
Desert Island Disc evenings and a book themed coffee and cake morning – examples of some of the many creative fundraising ideas to support Liberty Choir’s first 6-month Great Big Fundraising Bonanza.
The most ambitious fundraising event yet is hosted by Liberty Choir Graduate & Ambassador Ross Bell and his wife Vicky at the magnificent St George’s Church in Deal. They raised an
incredible £5,000.
MojoVember Challenge Month
Lydia – member of MJ’s Community Choir and 3rd time MojoVember challenger – is to be found singing tunes in the most unlikely places about town.
Jenny – new member of the South London Choir – steps up her pace as she walks into work in Central London each day.
Liberty Choir singer is recognised at the Koestler Trust Awards.
(Two of our Graduates have won Koestler awards for music
and poetry)
The judging for the 2024 Koestler Awards took place during
the summer months, specifically in July and August 2024.
Over 100 experts from various creative fields participated in
the judging process including Liberty Choir Co-Founder and Music Programme Director, MJ Paranzino.
Liberty Choir Co-Founders Address Justice Leaders at Southwark Cathedral
In November, Liberty Choir’s co-founders, alongside graduate Roy Mills, were honoured to speak at the Greater London High Sheriffs Justice Service at Southwark Cathedral. This prestigious invitation reflects the growing recognition of Liberty Choir’s transformative role in rehabilitation and community reintegration through music and stands as a testament to the power of music in changing lives and building stronger communities.
JULY 2024
Sing when you’re winning – In his podcast series on solutions to the prison problem, Chris Atkins (Liberty Choir Graduate & Ambassador) features Liberty Choir.
Click here to listen to the podcast in full.
Denise stacks the cards high for Liberty Choir’s Bonanza Fundraising Campaign by selling her unique home-made artwork.
MARCH 2024
Debut Friends & Family Concert at HMP Brixton. Organised in record time following a request from two inmates who were soon to be released, the performance was attended by our Ambassador Jenny Agutter and fellow cast mates from Call the Midwife, senior representatives from the Ministry of Justice, and multi-year funders such as Garfield Weston, Victoria Wood
Trust and King Charles III Charitable Trust.
OCTOBER 2024
Liberty Choir’s 10th birthday celebrations take place at The Bedford pub in Balham – a great Liberty Choir supporter. Guests included Ambassadors, new Ambassadors, prison officers,
volunteers, trustees and 40 Liberty Choir Graduates and their partners who came from all over the country – with one even flying in from Belfast especially for the occasion.
Credit to Ed Hill as official events photographer and his accompanying videographer, Nick Ross.
A huge thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years – to those both present and absent – we would not be where we are without you.
Liberty Choir Graduate Ambassador – Ross Bell with his band Rosko Piko – release their debut album Beautifully Wasted.
Rachel Sylvester, senior political journalist of The Times and Chair of The Times Crime and Justice Commission, attends rehearsals at two of our prisons and visits the South London Choir where she interviews half-a-dozen of our Graduates who sing there. This full circle experience is to be used as a showcase in her latest report.
JUNE 2024
Lambeth Country Show. Graduates and volunteers join our community choirs for another energetic performance at the Lambeth Show – another opportunity for former Liberty Choir
singers to gain confidence and blossom.
Bonanza 6-month fundraising campaign kicks off with a workshop at The Bedford in Balham.
Attendees spent an enjoyable and profitable day engaging in activities and discussion around putting the ‘fun’ back into fundraising.
JANUARY 2024
10 prisons: 10 years of operations
Liberty Choir opens in a 10th prison – HMP Pentonville
Launch of new Graduate Employment initiative – a breakthrough addition to Liberty Choir’s through the gate offering. A Brighton hospitality business makes good on their promise to prioritise employment opportunities for our Graduates, adding gainful employment as a further cornerstone to successful rehabilitation. Our first Graduate employee started work in the same month and the project has been a great success.
Highlights from 2023
DECEMBER 2023
Dame Sheila Hancock (widow of the late great actor John Thaw) speaks of her experience attending one of Liberty Choir’s rehearsals in Brixton in her December column of Prospect
Magazine (Sheila Hancock in Prospect Magazine).
The Big Give selects Liberty Choir to be their media partner for their 2023 Christmas Challenge Campaign, opening the way for Ambassador, Jenny Agutter to champion our cause on Good
Morning Britain and in Hello Magazine.
2023’s Big Give Christmas Challenge Campaign sees us exceed our target not just once but twice.
Liberty Choir Graduate and Ambassador, Ross Bell and his wife, Vicky host a spectacular Gala Fundraiser – From Darkness to Light – in our honour.
Our carol performance is hosted in the magnificent rotunda of the V&A Museum in London in early December.
Liberty Choir is featured as one of the Christmas Countdown Choirs on BBC Radio London, singing out the year with Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – a most poignant and fitting reminder of the impact of imprisonment on the families of prisoners at Christmastime.
MAY 2023
Pia Sinha – newly appointed Chief Executive of the Prison Reform Trust – joins the Liberty Choir Board. As the former head of women’s prisons in England, Pia has brought valuable insights and contacts within the prison system and reform measures.
First Sussex prison launch, HMP Lewes.
At Lewes, prisoners are locked in their cells for up to 23 hours a day and are suffering high levels of violence and self-harm. Liberty Choir offers the men there, as in our other prisons, a couple of hours break every week from the despair and solitude and a much-needed reconnection with the world.
NOVEMBER 2023
Liberty Choir launches in a further 2 prisons – HMP Bronzefield and HMP Thameside, completing our outreach to all 5 of the Surrey prisons – 3 of which are female facilities – and adding our 3rd London prison.
Another successful MojoVember fundraising campaign takes place, raising both funds and an extended awareness of Liberty Choir’s work in anticipation of the biggest fundraising campaign
of the year – The Big Give.
Our creative and proactive Ambassador, Jenny Agutter accepted the challenge for a 2nd year by writing and performing her own haiku each day while on set.
MojoVember challenger, Mandy wins ‘Most Money Raised’ award with her make up through the ages challenge, raising £687.50 with Gift Aid.
MojoVember challenger, Lydia wins ‘Best Challenge’ award for her online singing challenge, raising £437.50 with Gift Aid.
MARCH 2023
Liberty Choir relaunches in HMP Wandsworth – one of Europe’s largest and most challenging prisons.
SEPTEMBER 2023
Liberty Choir returns to HMP Highdown and Downview
Our 2nd Friends & Family Concert takes place at HMP Coldingley, bringing the opportunity for inmates to demonstrate a newfound interest and commitment in front of those who
matter most to them.
JANUARY 2023
Liberty Choir launches our 2nd women’s prison, HMP Send. 50% of the singers were on the risk register when they first joined; within weeks they had all come off the register, crediting the support of the music team and volunteers there for their more positive outlook.
Highlights from 2022
DECEMBER 2022
The Big Give Christmas Challenge. Thanks to all your fantastic support our target was exceeded and an incredible £85,000 (including Gift Aid) was raised; a record sum for us, a substantial sum raised with MojoVember, all the more remarkable in such a difficult year for most people. This has meant that we can take our programme into more prisons and make a positive impact on many more people’s lives.
MJ’s community choirs and Liberty Choir return to one of our favourite gigs – the beautiful rotunda of the V&A Museum.
Liberty Choir has a ten-minute feature on the frontline current affairs Today show, with Mishal Husain, at HMP Coldingley. She first covered Liberty Choir for Today in 2019 at HMP Wandsworth.
Listen to the Today show here
Mishal Husain returns to report on Liberty Choir after her 2019 visit to HMP Wandsworth, this time to HMP Coldingley.
NOVEMBER 2022
Launch of MojoVember that put the FUN into fundraising. Our inaugural campaign involved forty Liberty Choir supporters – including ambassadors, graduates, volunteers, patrons, team members and people who just believe in our mission – pledging large donations and doing a 7-day challenge (dancing, singing, swimming in freezing water and more craziness) to spread the word about conditions in prisons and the need to do something about it. Our social media editor May created a Facebook community page and inventive social media posts throughout. This leading up to our big fundraising annual Big Give Christmas Challenge Week.
SEPTEMBER 2022
First Friends and Family concert since lockdown. A fantastic, joyous experience, with Liberty Choir graduates attending and speaking; a heaving table of delicious food made by volunteers as well as Liberty Choir graduate, Stu, a master chef. HMP Coldingley did the men of Liberty Choir, their family members and packed audience, proud.
MAY 2022
Liberty Choir launched in HMP Brixton
Liberty Choir goes INTERNATIONAL!
Co-founders MJ Paranzino and Ginny Dougary were honoured to be invited to represent UK prison charitable initiatives, alongside The Clink and Redemption Roasters, guest speaking with other leading international prison charities.
MARCH 2022
Liberty Choir launched in HMP Coldingley
2021
In 2021, during Lockdown, Liberty Choir diversified – creating weekly radio shows for Liberty Choir Radio across the entire prison estate of England and Wales, with partner National Prison Radio, continuing its letter-writing programme and care packages, while prisoners were kept in their cells for more than 23 hours with a severe impact on mental health. Please click on the Lockdown page to hear some excerpts from one of our radio series.
Highlights from 2020 and 2019
DECEMBER 2020
The Big Give Christmas Challenge – 1st/8th December 2020
Liberty Choir does The Big Give Christmas Challenge, click here to find out more.
NOVEMBER 2020
Social Campaign Launched
Liberty Choir launches social media campaign with its volunteers, Liberty Choir graduates and their families, Ambassadors, trustees, development board to raise awareness of prisoners own extreme Lockdown in advance of…
OCTOBER 2020
New Annual Report
Liberty Choir’s new Annual Report goes up on the Charities Commission, report available here.
SEPTEMBER 2020
New Radio Shows
The first of six new radio shows – Liberty Choir Radio with National Prison Radio. The Six Building Blocks of Modern Music – co-hosted by Liberty Choir co-founder MJ Paranzino and Liberty Choir Graduate and Ambassador, Richie. Click here to listen.
The Big Christmas Challenge
Liberty Choir gets picked to do The Big Give Christmas Challenge – pledged by longterm supporter Ian Hislop, and matched by The Big Give founder Sir Alec Reed as Champion.
Jenny Agutter on Good Morning Britain
Ambassador Jenny Agutter talks about Liberty Choir on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, click here to watch.
AUGUST 2020
Jenny Agutter
Jenny Agutter reads from E Nesbit’s The Railway Children. The recording is made available to the readers of The Observer where she is interviewed talking about Liberty Choir, read more here and listen here.
JANUARY 2020
An article by our co-founder on what it was like to have Gareth Malone come into HMP Wandsworth and film Liberty Choir. On publication, we didn’t know whether we would be in the Gareth Malone BBC documentary. We were!
Gareth Malone’s The Choir, Aylesbury Prison
The choirmaster came to co-founder and music director, MJ Paranzino, to seek ‘inspiration and advice’ when he had difficulties setting up his choir in prison. She was delighted to help.
DECEMBER 2019
Victora and Albert Museum
On December 7th, we performed Christmas songs at the Victoria and Albert Museum for the fourth year – under the magnificent chandelier in the rotunda. All of MJ’s Choirs gather together to sing among the columns joined by many Liberty Choir graduates and their children and families. Last year, our V&A choir performance was featured on BBC’s Front Row. It is a joyful, beautiful occasion and a fitting end to our year.
NOVEMBER 2019
The Royal Festival Hall
November saw Liberty Choir performing twice at the Royal Festival Hall.
Liberty Choir first performed at the kind request of The Koestler Trust to open their annual exhibition of offenders’ art at the Royal Festival Hall back in 2015, in front of the then secretary of state for justice, Michael Gove.
This year, we were honoured to be invited back by the Koestler Trust to perform for the opening of their prestigious exhibition as well as to close it. Our co-founder MJ said a few heartfelt words to the audience.
We have new choir members in the community choirs who came as a result of being inspired at the Royal Festival Hall.
OCTOBER 2019
The Clink
On Thursday evening, October 17th, we had a delicious dinner at The Clink, a generous gift to Liberty Choir from the McGrath Charitable Trust. The dining room was made up of tables of donors, with a volunteer and Liberty Choir graduate on each table. The staff of The Clink, made up of professionals and serving prisoners at HMP Brixton, were immaculate: serving mocktails and canapés, followed by a three-course dinner, then coffee and petit-fours.
There was an auction, a capella singing – including all the kitchen and dining staff (some of whom were Liberty Choir singers from Wandsworth who had been transferred) – and a moving testimonial from Richie and his son Ricardo who talked about how Liberty Choir had “given my father back to me”.
AUGUST 2019
Liberty Choir graduate fundraiser in Kent
Ross and his wife, Vicky, and their friends and family members threw their third fundraising event for Liberty Choir. Ross was one of the founding members of the choir in 2014 in HMP Wandsworth and is now an advisor to the charity. The first event was thrown by Vicky, while Ross was still in prison, in appreciation for keeping her husband safe and even happy for two hours a week. The second fundraiser was attended by Ross, when he was in day release, he sang some of the songs he had written in prison, where he also learnt to play the guitar – inspired by his choir sessions. The 2019 event was the biggest yet – with Ross a free man at last – and supported by the official Ramsgate Liberty Choir fundraising committee -(complete with Liberty Choir blue sashes)!
It was held in the gracious house and gardens of their friends and hosts, Kevin and Ioannis – with Ioannis cooking delicious Greek dishes and roasting lamb, and a spread of cakes which made Bake Off look amateur. There was singing and an auction and great speeches, with lots of new people attending and learning about a cause that is so close to Ross and his family’s hearts, and the sun shone all day long.
The Ramsgate committee is already planning next year’s do.
JULY 2019
Shakespeare debut
On July 2nd, Richie – one of our long-term graduates – made his Shakespearean debut as Polonius in a Kent Opera production of Hamlet; involving some weeks of rehearsal, alongside professional actors and other prison graduates. We were proud to work alongside Kent Opera, Bounce Back and Divert as our partners and look forward to more collaborations in the future.
JUNE 2019
Kings Place
On June 23rd we had a Liberty Choir fundraising event in the great auditorium at the special venue of Kings Place, home to three orchestras, as well as The Guardian and The Observer. Our thanks goes to Peter Millican and his family for this generous opportunity. Stephen Fry and Cherie Blair, a Liberty Choir patron, were on the stage discussing innovative ways to tackle prison reform, moderated by the BBC’s Kirsty Lang. MJ’s Choirs performed, alongside a dozen Liberty Choir graduates, with their families and friends supporting them in the audience. We had fantastic auction prizes and there were great testimonials from two of our graduates – Richie and Ross, with his wife Vicky. Terrific press support from the Today programme and The Observer and much social media.
Singing in prison – Best of Today
‘Unlocking hearts through song’
What role can music and singing have inside a prison? A programme running inside some prisons offers inmates the chance to sing in a choir and be part of a community choir after release. Today’s Mishal Husain visited Wandsworth Prison to meet the Liberty Choir.
MAY 2019
Brighton Fringe Festival
This year’s theme was Love Notes. There were original songs composed especially for the event as well as the Choirs’ repertoire songs. Volunteers and Liberty Choir graduates joined us, with friends and family members in the audience.
Wandsworth Fringe Festival
May 18, we sang as part of Wandsworth Fringe Festival in the shadow of the iconic towers of the Battersea Power Station.
February 2019
Liberty Choir graduates perform and attend MJ’s Choirs Annual Dinner Party Extravaganzas in South London and West London – fun events where choir members dress up, have dinner, socialize and bring out their inner divas on stage for those who dare.
Press and Events
Liberty Choir has been very fortunate to have good press coverage, as well as many opportunities to perform and host get-togethers. Liberty Choir graduates join MJ’s Choirs in a range of challenging and enjoyable activities, from informal performances and pop-ups to appearances at stately homes and outstanding venues, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal Festival Hall.
From Darkness To Light – Gala Fundraiser
Ross Bell, a former Captain serving in Iraq, returned with undiagnosed adjustment disorder leading him to make poor life decisions, including a large-scale VAT fraud, which resulted in a long prison sentence. In his first months in prison, frightened and alone, he...
Choirmaster Gareth Malone visits Liberty Choir in Wandsworth
Gareth Malone’s The Choir, Aylesbury Prison - the choirmaster came to co-founder and music director, MJ Paranzino, to seek ‘inspiration and advice’ when he had difficulties setting up his choir in prison. She was delighted to help. See Press...
The Clink
On Thursday evening, October 17th, we had a delicious dinner at The Clink, a generous gift to Liberty Choir from the McGrath Charitable Trust. The dining room was made up of tables of donors, with a volunteer and Liberty Choir graduate on each table. The staff of The...
Royal Festival Hall – The Koestler Trust
November saw Liberty Choir performing twice at the Royal Festival Hall. Liberty Choir first performed at the kind request of The Koestler Trust to open their annual exhibition of offenders’ art at the Royal Festival Hall back in 2015, in front of the then secretary of...
Liberty Choir graduate fundraiser
Ross and his wife, Vicky, and their friends and family members threw their third fundraising event for Liberty Choir. Ross was one of the founding members of the choir in 2014 in HMP Wandsworth and is now an advisor to the charity. The first event was thrown by Vicky,...
Victoria and Albert Museum
On December 7th, we performed Christmas songs at the Victoria and Albert Museum for the fourth year - under the magnificent chandelier in the rotunda. All of MJ’s Choirs gather together to sing among the columns joined by many Liberty Choir graduates and their...
Singing in prison – Best of Today
'Unlocking hearts through song' What role can music and singing have inside a prison? A programme running inside some prisons offers inmates the chance to sing in a choir and be part of a community choir after release. Today's Mishal Husain visited Wandsworth Prison...
Kings Place fundraising event
“There’s so much wrong with our penal system but there are wonderful people working tirelessly to do their best within a broken system. The Liberty Choir, for example, shines in the darkness” Stephen Fry
David Gilmour talks about Liberty Choir on the Andrew Marr show
We are grateful to all our founding supporters and friends but David Gilmour and Polly Samson have gone above and beyond to help Liberty Choir – not only financially but with their time and continuous outspoken public support of the programme.
Gold record
David Gilmour, Liberty Choir patron and lead singer and guitarist with Pink Floyd, invited the Liberty Choir (ex-inmates and volunteers) to sing on his record Rattle That Lock. Upon release, Rattle That Lock racked up sales in excess of 100,000 meaning that the...
Choir featured on Radio 4’s Front Row arts show
Listen to MJ’s Choirs singing carols along with our Liberty Choir graduates and their family and friends at the Victoria and Albert Museum on Radio 4’s Front Row arts show broadcast on Christmas Day.
Wandsworth Fringe Festival
On May 18, we sang as part of Wandsworth Fringe Festival in the shadow of the iconic towers of the Battersea Power Station.
Supporters
To see a full list of our board, patrons and supporters View here
