Prentice puts best voice forward
Southland singing legend Suzanne Prentice will feature in a Te Anau concert next month raising much needed funds for Hospice Southland.
The events co-ordinator for Hospice Southland for around eight years, Prentice, 65, said she was looking forward to the show which would include local ukulele band, From the Top.
“We used to have to raise $3.5m every year to keep the hospice running,” she said.
“That’s a lot and it’s going up; the organisation needs to raise a further $4 million annually to operate effectively.”
Hospice Southland covered the Wakatipu Basin, as well as Southland, and received approximately 42% of its funding from the government. The remainder had to be self-funded.
“The work has never been more needed than now with increasing numbers of patients needing the palliative care and respite offered,” Prentice said.
In January 2022, Prentice, a member of the Invercargill Licensing Trust and Foundation and the Otago/Southland Rescue Helicopter Trust, suffered a heart attack.
“It took me a while to get over it. The service I received was absolutely brilliant. I can’t speak highly enough about it.
“I was flown by helicopter to surgery in Dunedin and it took me three to four months to start feeling I was on the road to recovery.
“Now, I’m feeling the best I’ve felt since I was doing weight training.”
She said there was a history of heart issues in her family with both her parents having “dicky tickers”.
“I wish I could slow down, but life’s not like that, and it’s hard to say no giving back to the community. I’m still performing and still enjoying it. I’ve got a series of shows coming up starting in Auckland with Carl Doy, and I’m doing a Dunedin fundraiser for kids at Taieri College.”
Last year, Prentice gave a Mother’s Day performance with Doy at the Ascot Park Hotel in Invercargill. Some singing on cruise ships was also planned for this year.
As for the Hospice Southland fundraiser at Te Anau, Prentice said people could expect a mixture of old favourites and new songs.
“I started off with country because I was told to by a recording company; as I’ve got older my repertoire has included others, Barbra Streisand, Fleetwood Mac.
“It will be a lot of fun singing some songs people will remember me for.”
Te Anau’s three service clubs, Te Anau Lions, Fiordland Rotary and Te Anau Kepler Lions, have come together to organise the show.
Clubs’ spokesperson Trevor Lyall said they were extremely fortunate to have Prentice perform and hoped the community would support the show.
“Practically every aspect of putting on this concert has been donated, from the performers and the venue to a large part of the cost of the sound and lighting.
“Te Anau’s businesses have stepped up and provided accommodation and meals and heavily discounted costs that cannot be avoided, while others have offered to cover any shortfall so that the full cost of each ticket will end up in hospice coffers.”
An Evening with Suzanne and Friends will be held at the RealNZ Fiordland Community Events Centre on Friday, May 10.
Tickets can be purchased online at www. hospicesouthlandfundraiser.com