Bunbury men to join forces with community and music scene to combat domestic violence

A night of music will aim to raise awareness and funds for South West agencies working to end domestic violence. The Bunbury Men of Song will showcase their pop-up community choir, joining forces with the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre for a concert on December 6. Men from different backgrounds have joined the temporary choir and are now busy preparing for the concert to raise awareness and funds in the region. Their weekly rehearsal sessions have included a presentation by a professional working in the domestic violence space, followed by a 15-minute discussion on the issue. Minister Gregory Ross runs the choir, and the group is hoping to educate the wider community on the prevalence, signs and types of domestic violence, as well as how to support victim-survivors. “We’ve got 32 people signed up, which is really good, and they’re people of all ages — from early 20s right through to over-80s,” he said. “Some people who’ve never sung in choirs before, some people who haven’t sung for 20 or 30 years, and they’re all just having a wonderful time. “They’ve all come along because they’ve actually got a real commitment to changing the nature, and the predominant male culture, of thinking or choosing to act differently. “We’ll be encouraging people to be as generous as they can on the night, on top of the ticket sales. “We want to absolutely sell out the venue for the concert on the 6th of December, because if we can, that’s nearly $16,000 that we can gift to the agencies in town.” Fundraising efforts include the sale of tickets, as well as other donation points at BREC, with agencies to have stalls set up in the foyer. 1800 RESPECT (737 732)