An incredible £150,000 has been raised throughout Cardiff charity City Hospice’s Light Up A Life campaign, during which donations were matched by the Hodge Foundation.
The Light Up A Life campaign ran between October 1 and December 31, providing supporters with opportunities to remember and celebrate the lives of loved ones in the run up to Christmas.
Back by popular demand, the digital ‘Virtual Star in the Sky’ feature allowed people to donate and leave a message of remembrance on a virtual star in the Cardiff skyline.
With no restrictions in place for the first time in three years, remembrance and fundraising events returned during the campaign period including an art auction, remembrance event and light trail.
Rogers Jones Auctioneers presided over the art auction which featured over 100 lots including an opportunity to be painted by renowned portrait artist David Griffiths MBE. The auctioneers took no commission on any of the lots and donated the 15% buyer’s premium to the charity too.
The annual Light Up A Life remembrance service took place within the grounds of the hospice in Whitchurch. The event included a Christmas tree light switch on, readings, carols and performances from Llanishen High School Choir, Côr Caerdydd, CytSain Choir and Howell’s School’s string quartet Perfect Pitch. During the festive event, guests wrote personal messages to remember loved ones on a memory tag and placed them on the Christmas tree.
The final event of the campaign also had a festive feel. Over 200 guests including the Lord Mayor of Cardiff attended a remembrance event at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama before following the 1.4km Christmas at Bute Park immersive light trail. The event hosted by ambassador Sian Lloyd also featured special performances by harpist Benjamin Creighton Griffiths, Cardiff Male Voice Choir, Rock Choir and Y Gerddorfa Ukelele Gymreig.
The funds raised during the Light Up A Life campaign, and generously match funded by the Hodge Foundation, will help City Hospice continue to provide home-based specialist palliative care in the capital.
The charity provides care to patients with terminal or life-limiting illnesses such as cancer, dementia, motor neurone disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as well as bereavement counselling and services for families.
Liz Booyse, Chief Executive of City Hospice, said: “The Light Up A Life campaign helps us to remember and celebrate those we have lost and enables us to continue the work we do with families and those receiving palliative care. We are incredibly grateful to the Hodge Foundation whose continued support of Light Up A Life makes our work possible.
“We are so pleased to have been able to provide opportunities and events for people to come together and find comfort in remembrance at what can be a really difficult time of year.”