Update following on from the last newsletter:
We will be visiting the British Museum on Saturday 3rd December at 7.40pm for another chance to see the South Africa - Art of a Nation exhibition. Please email us at londonwestendwi@gmail.com if you'd like a ticket.
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We have received the email below: If anyone is interested in helping out, please email Emily at Emily.Hughes@imperial.nhs.uk and cc in LWEWI at the usual address.
My name is Emily Hughes; I’m the Fundraising & Communications Executive here at COSMIC (Children of St Mary’s Intensive Care) which is the charity that supports the Children’s Intensive Care Unit at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. We support the patients and their families by providing accommodation so that parents can be near their critically ill child whilst they are in hospital as well as purchasing state-of-the-art equipment and organising training for the doctors and nurses. We take children from all over London, the Home Counties, Oxford and the South East, but can have children admitted from as far afield as Birmingham and even Scotland. We are also the main children’s trauma centre for West and North London.
Every year we organise a carol concert for all of the families who have been on the Unit as well as staff and current occupants on the ward. It provides a unique experience for parents who have been through the often traumatic and isolating experience of having a child in intensive care to share experiences and stories. It also means that the doctors and nurses who treated those, once critically ill children, are able to see their former patients, happy and healthy, looking forward to spending Christmas with their family.
This year’s event is happening on at 7:00pm, Monday the 5th of December at St Matthew’s Church in Bayswater. We have three amazing choirs as well as the children from Chelsea Quavers Music School performing a mixture of traditional and contemporary carols and readings. We also have a very special guest compare at this year's event; actor Patrick Ryecart who you might have seen on BBC's Poldark as Sir Hugh Bodrugan, as Lord Wigram in the Oscar Award winning film The King's Speech and he is currently starring as Duke of Norfolk in the newest Netflix drama 'The Crown'.
After the service we have a little celebration with all of our guests with a spread of festive treats and a glass of bubbly. There is also an amazing raffle with brilliant prizes to win in our raffle - a 'golden ticket' for the Roald Dahl Museum, a family pass for the London Eye, vouchers for Bill's Restaurant and Cote Brasserie as well as tickets to the Little Angel Theatre in Islington and a whole host of toys and goodies up for grabs! We will also be having a special kids corner where Father Christmas will visit and open his post box to the North Pole for the children to post their Christmas lists into.
Overall, the annual Carol Concert is a wonderful family orientated event, raising essential funds for critically ill children in London. We were wondering whether the London West End Women’s Institute might be interested in joining us at this year’s event by donating or baking some Christmas treats for our guests to enjoy after the service? If anyone from your Institute would be interested in contributing to our event we would be delighted to offer them complimentary tickets to the carol concert.
