MP leads charity singing challenge for 500 miles
BRENDAN O’Hara and local groups are singing lines from The Proclaimers’ song I Would Walk 500 Miles for a charity video to be shown in Oban next month.
The fundraising show, called SiMBA’s
Sounds of the 80s, described by organisers as ‘a glorified 1980s disco’, will also feature videos and song choices from the comedian Peter Kay and musician Nik Kershaw.
The evening of family entertainment, set for the Argyllshire Gathering Halls on November 4, is raising funds for SiMBA (Simpson’s Memory Box Appeal), which ‘responds to the needs of those affected by the loss of a baby’.
Susan Simpson, SiMBA’s Highland co-ordinator, said: ‘The exciting thing about this evening is that we are collating an assemblage of videos and performances from local groups and national celebrities, so our whole evening will be planned by those we have asked to take part.’
Local groups singing lines from The Proclaimers song include Oban Sea Cadets, Oban Sea Life Centre, SAMS, Oban Communities Trust, Clan Diarmid from Oban High School, and Argyll and Bute MP Brendan O’Hara.
Videos by celebrities Nik Kershaw and Peter Kay will feature alongside those by SiMBA’s patrons Grant Stott and Gillian Smith MBE, plus SiMBA’s ambassador Lisa Hague. The Spotlight
Musical Theatre Group will also be performing on the night.
SiMBA was founded in 2005 by Sara Fitzsimmons, a midwife in Simpson’s Maternity Hospital in Edinburgh. The charity responds to the needs of families throughout the UK bereaved through the loss of a baby at any stage during pregnancy, at birth or after delivery. SiMBA is devoted to empowering families to gather precious memories of their baby.
Ms Simpson, a volunteer since 2010, said: ‘In my work supporting families and individuals, I witness first-hand the extraordinary difference the support of the charity makes in the lives of bereaved families, both those who have lost recently and those whose baby died decades ago. I, too, am enabled by the charity to honour the memory of the child we lost to stillbirth and the child we lost to miscarriage.
‘The support and care SiMBA offers enables families to cope with a lifetime of loss, honouring the memory of the children they couldn’t watch grow up. SiMBA supports families who have lost their baby recently, as well as families whose baby died decades ago.’
SiMBA’s services are available free throughout the UK and beyond.
Anyone wishing to sing a line for the video or choose an 80s song can contact Susan Simpson on 07771 358382.