Every two years an event takes place around the world in which voices ring out in support of hospice care. This year World Hospice Day occurs on October 8th in communities everywhere to raise awareness and funds for their local hospices.
In our community, many voices are coming together at a very special multi-choir event supported by the Friends of Willen Hospice. Choirs include Newport Pagnell Singers, Milton Keynes Youth Choir, Parish Church of St Peter & St Paul with St Luke’s Choir, The Reluctants and soloist Kevin Sullivan.
Willen Hospice also benefits distinctively from the beautiful voice of a young woman, Gilly Giddings, whose father was cared for by the hospice last year. This is how Gilly describes her experience (in her own words, her voice) –
‘Willen Hospice was a place that said to me let’s embrace life, let’s celebrate it, let’s focus on the good we can do here. Willen Hospice gave my Dad his life back during his stay — it was the most comfortable he had been in a long time. Willen Hospice is a truly wonderful and inspiring place and I will never, ever forget its support and kindness through the most difficult of times’. (Read more…)
The best brands on earth would clamour for such an endorsement!
Performing earlier this year with the Olney Community Choir, Gilly sang ‘I’ll Be There’, a song of love and caring written especially for Willen Hospice by John Hawkes. Click here to hear more about the back story.
The way Gilly sings it reflects the pure love that arises from caring deeply about someone — a feeling that resonates whether you’ve experienced a loved one in hospice care or not. Click here to see Gilly’s latest performance of ‘I’ll Be There’.
We hope that Gilly’s voice will do hospices, and especially Willen Hospice, a world of good. Whoever you are, wherever you are, please take time to remember the crucial importance of hospices and give what you can to help continue this vital work.
