I've raised £13000 to support a charity assisting limbless children in the developing world
Organised by Alex Ainley
Story
Over the years I have worked hard to put on concerts to raise money for a charity very close to my heart. This year I desperately need help. I'm not a professional musician and in my day job I work long hours, often until midnight and this year have run out of time. We have a venue, we have musicians, we have music, but this time we don't have the money to hire them. It's crunch time and unless we can raise the money now, we are going to lose them and this year the concerts won't happen. The concerts always make a lot of money, we typically double the investment made into arranging them and have often done significantly better than that. Equally importantly, we raise awareness and help the charity make new contacts, in one notable instance to a well-known firm that provided generous additional funding.
My friends Sarah and Victoria set up Elizabeth's Legacy of Hope in 2011 after out of control bus killed their mother, severely injured Sarah and left Sarah's 2 year old daughter Polyanna with her right leg amputated below the knee. Out of the darkness of this tragedy, they founded ELoH to provide prosthetics to limbless children in the developing world and give them the support and care that they otherwise cannot get. Here is their inspirational story, you might spot a pic of me buried in there!
If we can raise the money, we will put on 3 concerts in September this year at the Radlett Centre theatre in Hertfordshire. We always feature a mix of music and we are hoping to do the Rachmaninoff 2nd piano concerto and a mix of Great American songbook standards with full orchestra. I do the arranging and organising and it's hard work. If you can help us with funding, then we can get this done and raise the money this charity needs. It's heart-breaking how little it costs to help children in the countries where ELoH is active, and with these concerts we can raise a large amount of money and make a real difference.
My own personal mountain to climb in this is to get the Rach 2 up to scratch in time, as well as organising everything else. If we can raise the money, I'll find the time.... somehow! I have never let this charity down before and don't want to this year. Here's me playing and also the time we were featured on Classic FM and a link to the charity website.
