The Voices for Hospices Choir is a registered charity (No:1205445) set up in 2014, to continue the work of the Voices for Hospices movement, started at the Princess Alice Hospice, Esther, Surrey, in 1986, and is eligible for Gift Aid. &nbsp;(EW35408). The original aims of which were to raise awareness and funds for Hospices primarily through singing.John Sutton &nbsp;MBE (the conductor of this concert) and his wife Jenny have been taking part and organising massed Come and Sing concerts since 1986. In fact, they &nbsp;performed in the very first concert! (Jenny singing and John on his double bass, or conducting!) Our performances to date have raised many thousands of pounds for our chosen Hospices. Our last three have been solely for Hampshire Hospices. The concert in 2019, in Winchester Cathedral,( where we were their nominated Charity Concert of 2019 )raised over £25,000.John was awarded an MBE in the NY Honours 2023, for his work as Director of Amateur Choirs and Charitable Fundraising for the past 50+years. He was amazed and delighted to have received this honour. John says”Although my name is attached to the honour, it is in recognition of the many who have had the pleasure and privilege of singing, playing and supporting the numerous, wonderful concerts in UK and abroad, and in performances for many and various charities during the past &nbsp;50 years. My heartfelt thanks go to friends past and present who have made it all possible.&nbsp; &nbsp;This year's concert we are supporting eight Hampshire Hospices:-Countess of Brecknock, Andover; Mountbatten Hampshire, West End;Mountbatten, Isle of Wight; Naomi House and Jacksplace, Sutton Scotney; Oakhaven Lymington; Rowans, Porstmouth; St Michael's, Basingstoke; Winchester Hospice. They, as all UK Hospices, rely totally on donations to supply the services so necessary to patients as they face life limiting and end of life issues. These services can be supplied at the Hospices, as day care, or in a patient's own home. In these challenging times, raising these funds (often in excess of £8m each year) is proving exceedingly difficult.Tickets for singers and audience alike are £30 each. &nbsp;(or £50 if you wish to participate in both concerts). It is the aim of VfH Choir that all ticket money and donations on the day go directly to our eight Hampshire Hospices.All the other necessary costs (orchestra, soloists, venue hire, flyers , posters, sound, lighting, admin etc) are raised by many voluntary VfHChoir activities during the year. These include, Donations, Auctions, Raffles, Bridge Afternoons, Folk Dancing, Coffee Mornings, A Colour and Style Day, Recitals and Concerts.Everything is organised by a very active team (our yellow sashed VfHers!) who freely give of their time, both before concert day, and especially on and during the concert. Our concerts are held in unusual settings where numbers of singers are often greater than those in the audience!Our venues have included such places as Kempton Park Racecourse, Eastleigh Football Club, Romsey Abbey and Winchester Cathedral, the beautiful Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, and this year the Thornden Hall, in Eastleigh.Our concerts are hugely enjoyed by singers, audiences and our Hospices. Some of our singers have been singing with us for nearly 50 years!We at VfH Choir wish to give something back for the joy and satisfaction that a good sing can give us! What better place to send our money to, than our Hospices! We look forward to our performances with you and thank you for your generous supportWe show our flyer/poster for the &nbsp;next VfHChoir Concert on 20th &nbsp;September 2026. (link to two sided flyer, to print off or send to their singing contacts) The emblem of the hospice movement worldwide is the sunflower, and it is fitting that we use this flower, in the mouth of the dove, on our advertising literature, for it is also the National Flower of Ukraine. Our chosen work for the concert is "The Armed Man-A Mass for Peace" which itself is dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo conflict. These symbols of hope, strength, happiness and peace, combined so magically in the masterpiece by Sir Karl Jenkins will inform the centre of our performance. (please insert flyer here front and back)?

&nbsp;Voices for Hospices Choir was set up in 2014, to continue the work of the VfH movement, started in Surrey in 1986. The movement's philosophy is to raise funds and awareness for hospices through singing, firstly in the UK then globally. By the 1990's it had raised thousands of pounds through over 600 performances in over 60 countries.Our concert conductor, John Sutton MBE and his wife Jenny, have for over 40 years been taking part in and organising massed VfH Choir concert, every other year since that time.This year we are again supporting our 8 Hampshire Hospices, They rely totally on donations to supply the services necessary to patients facing life limiting and end of life issues, These services, including including residential, day care and “care at home” can be supplied by the hospices, often costing more than £8m pa, per hospice.&nbsp;So that all ticket monies and donations on concert day go directly to our 8 Hants Hospices, all concert costs are raised by our fantastic team of VfHers, who organise a wide range of fundraising events and support on concert day.Our huge thanks this year go to &nbsp;Thornden Hall for giving us a charity status for the use of their beautiful concert hall. &nbsp;Because the hall is a smaller venue than normal ( normally 1000+ seats available), we are organinsng two performance on the same day! On this occasion the singers will be seated in the audience &nbsp;seats and the audience on the stage. (as usual, we try to make each of our concerts individual!)&nbsp;Singers and audience can opt for one or both concerts. If you opt for both performances your participation fee will be £50. If you opt for one performance, it will be £30ph.The online booking form elicits your role---SATB or audience, There will be a 2hr rest between the two concerts. Bring your own packed meal, or buy from the outside catering company on site for the day. There will be plenty of indoor and outdoor areas &nbsp;for consumption of your meals. The &nbsp;Thornden Hall bar inside the theatre, &nbsp;will be open as usual, one hour before the performances, for tea/coffee and alcoholic beverages and snacks.We will be again performing “The Armed Man- A Mass for Peace” by Sir Karl Jenkins. Given the continuing challenging times of &nbsp;peace throughout the world, it seems an almost necessary oevre for the 20th September 2026, given the hearfelt singing for &nbsp;acceptance of all &nbsp;faiths, colours, creeds and peace included in movements.&nbsp;We will again have a Hospice Village, where all eight of our Hospices have a presence. Please go and visit them and buy their goodies, and find out about the work they give freely to all &nbsp;patients.There will be a short top 'n tail rehearsal before each concert (14h00/2.00pm and 19h00/ 7.00pm), so we are all singing from the same songsheet!!&nbsp;Audience members are welcome to sit through this time. Our VfHers will direct you quietly &nbsp;to your seats, as they will for the singers. They are all identifiable by their bright sunflower yellow VfHChoir sashes.Singers and audience will be wearing wrist identity bands/hand stamps for ease of entering the hall. These will be given to you at registration at 13.30h (1.30pm) and 18.30h (6.30pm)&nbsp;The VfH Sinfonia, a small group of virtuoso instrumentalists, will again be accompanying us. &nbsp;Together with our four outstanding soloists, Helen Bailey, Anna Loveday, Mark Gubbins and Andrew de Silva, it promises to be another amazing performance.About Thornden Hall

"The Armed Man – A Mass for Peace" by Sir Karl Jenkins

VfH Choir &nbsp;is continually &nbsp;raising money for Hampshire Hospices.&nbsp;Since the amazing “The Armed Man-A Mass for Peace" in Sir Harold Hillier Garden &nbsp;we have &nbsp;sung at a &nbsp;memorable Christmas Carol Service for Naomi House and Jacksplace Hospice, in the beautiful venue of Winchester Cathedral. This December 2025, we are again singing for Naomi House, but this time in the beautiful Winchester College Chapel.Because it is our mission that all our concert costs are set up before the concert day itself, (thus saving every penny from ticket sales and donations on concert day for our Hospices) we also have other findraising events to collect these costs.We have also had &nbsp;Carol singing at Tesco stores Winnall, a fundraising Soup and Cheese lunch, &nbsp;a bridge afternoon tea, and a Singday singing “Joseph and the Amazing Colored Dreamcoat”, raising over £1000.&nbsp;We will continue to raise funds!On January 17th 2026 we will again hold a fundraising Soup and Cheese lunch, and a Segalula concert in Romsey on June 28th (email <a href="mailto:info@vfhchoir.com">info@vfhchoir.com</a> for further information).Our concerts themselves take time to raise the money to pay for musicians, venue hire, prinmting &nbsp;etc! Our valiant team of volunteer VfHers spend much time and effort raising this money. They are wonderful!All UK Hospices rely totally on donations to supply the services so necessary to patients as they face life limiting, end of life and bereavement issues. In these challenging times, raising these funds, (often in excess of £8m p.a.) is proving exceedingly difficult. We at Voices for Hospices Choir wish to give something back for the joy and satisfaction that a good sing gives us!&nbsp;What better place to send our money than to our Hospices?Our eight nominated Hampshire Hospices this year are: Countess of Brecknock, Andover; Mountbatten, Isle of Wight, Mountbatten Hampshire West End; Naomi House and Jacksplace, Sutton Scotney; Oakhaven, Lymington; Rowans, Portsmouth; St Michael's, Basingstoke and Winchester Hospìce, Winchester. If you wish to help us raise our set up costs, please visit Goodhub (please insert link below)

Fundraising

The Voices for Hospices Choir was set up in 2014.  It is dedicated to bringing  together singers to raise their voices and funds for hospices. We believe that singing is a life enhancing activity, and this is our way of giving back for the joy it brings us.

Voices for Hospices Choir

Helen Bailey

Soprano

Gilly Slot

Piano

Mark Gubbins 

Tenor (Call to Prayer)

Andrew De Silva 

Bass

The Linda Bridges

Accompanist

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