Chinese Community dancers and performers entertain patients at the Hospice

The Living Well Service patients enjoyed a range of Chinese dancers (in colourful and authentic dress) and traditional British songs in the Living Well Service recently from the Chinese Community in Cambridge and the ‘Half Lecture Half Concert’ group from London.

Participants ranging from children to adults entertained the patients with both relaxing music whilst they played their instruments in public with a performance they titled ‘Let every note be a gentle footnote to the final chapter of life’. This included a charming and confident six year old with her violin, a student playing a trombone and a very talented alumni from Edinburgh University who played a ‘Pipa’.

Maggie, a social entrepreneur and volunteer from the Cambridge Chinese community, who introduced the musicians and helped organise the performances, spoke about her work supporting women from diverse backgrounds to begin their entrepreneurial journeys. She also highlighted the importance of giving young people from Cambridge schools a platform to share their talents while supporting charitable causes.

Maggie shared that she found the Hospice to be a calm and welcoming environment.

The patients were expressing their enjoyment by singing along to songs such as Mary Poppin’s, ‘Feed the Birds’ (Tuppence a Bag) and Abba’s ‘Dancing Queen’. They commented:

“I enjoyed the session this morning. The musician was very talented and the Pipa was a really unusual instrument.” and “It brought back memories of my time in Hong Kong – at the night markets the ladies were always dancing at one end.”

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Our ‘Outstanding’ services are provided free of charge to patients and their families. Our aim being to provide the highest quality care, helping people to make every moment count. You can find out more about how we are funded here: arhc.org.uk/how-we-are-funded.