Every week we work bedside with children on 18 wards at Birmingham Children's Hospital. The children might be regular out-patients or in-patients but all are there because they have a life-limiting condition. 

As someone who was diagnosed with a chronic respiratory condition aged 16 this project is close to my heart. I know something of the fear of your body not doing what you expect and of the necessary intervention of our 1st class NHS medics.

The children look forward to their weekly Singing Medicine session, and over the years we have seen the huge difference it makes to their lives and the lives of their families. So it was devastating a few months ago to have a longstanding funder withdraw their support.

Singing Pathways is a weekly session for adult stroke patients. This too is close to my heart as my dad had a big stroke over 10 years ago but made a full recovery. More recently I lost a very dear colleague.

In our Singing Pathways sessions we have had patients sing who we previously unable to talk, and medical staff are frequently surprised by the benefits of singing on their patients.

We've worked hard to secure much of the funding these projects need. To help, several of our singers and even some of audiences have taken up our Grade-1-athon challenge and their exams are on Sat 13 Oct.

I'd already set my mind on the half marathon and the fairly significant challenge for me of preparing for it with my underlying health challenges, so as it falls on the following day I'm not doing the Grade-1-athon but I hope you might be willing to make a donation in support of my half marathon effort instead!

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