Club uses karaoke to fight loneliness

On the face of it, Birmingham-based Star Karaoke Club (SKC) may just seem like a chance to get together and belt out some classics.

However, their work reaches far beyond singing - across weekly or fortnightly sessions in Small Heath, Saltley and Sparkhill, SKC aims to tackle loneliness.

The group predominantly serves the South Asian community, but is keen to expand to welcome people from all backgrounds across the West Midlands.

"There are a lot of people out there who are suffering silently," said co-founder Jawed Butt.

"People come, they socialise, they sit down have a coffee, sing if they want to – you don't have to be a singer, but a lot of people come and sing."

"The main idea was that we need to get people out of their houses, into a place where there are 30, 40, 50 people sitting there and they can actually socialise," he added.

"It is a family environment, we do get some children as well, it's males, females, families, it's a mixed environment."

As well as hosting the karaoke sessions, the group has organised visits to the beach and trips across Europe.

It also hosts ladies groups, and hopes to introduce camping trips and health MOTs - where attendees get advice on things like health and diet.

"It literally has become a family, where it's not just you come and sing and you go home and forget about it", Mr Butt said, "if we don't hear from a member we actually call them, find out how they are."

On Friday, the group launched men's walking and talking sessions, in the hopes of attracting more men and encouraging them to express their emotions.

There are also wellbeing sessions for members hosted by Nadia Hussain, a former associate professor of health and life sciences at Coventry University.

She told the BBC she had done "quite a lot of research on South Asian populations and I can't help thinking there was an opportunity to be able to reach out to even more people".

"Even though we've got an avenue here with music… can't we also go a step further and actually help these people?

"We want to be able to reach those people that maybe have got to the point where they don't feel that they've got anyone," she added.

Prof Hussain said she had found SKC through experiencing loneliness herself.

"It's been life-changing for me, and I know it's been life changing for so many other people," she said.

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