Christmas Concert will be filled with happy memories for our volunteer

A Christmas Concert at The Bridgewater Hall on Friday, December 8, (7.30 pm) will be filled with happy memories for Ken Parkes.

Ken is a member of the St Ann’s Hospice Festival Choir which will celebrate the festive season with a night of carols and seasonal music.

Ken joined the choir in 2011, a year after wife Janice died of breast cancer, aged 61. She was a patient at our hospice site in Heald Green.

The couple shared a love of music and sang together in a church choir in their home town of Sale. Ken is now also a member of the Alma Singers.

Ken said: “We’d often go to concerts together and I’ve always loved singing so joining the St Ann’s choir was an opportunity to give something back. I’m also a volunteer gardener at the hospice.

“The choir has brought me a lot of joy and the Christmas Concert is the start of the festive season. It’s more than just a choir and the programme they perform is wonderful.”

The St Ann’s choir will be accompanied by Corus Brass Ensemble and the Bowdon Preparatory School for Girl’s Chamber Choir with Christopher Ellis on piano and Elin Rees on organ. The evening is hosted by Coronation Street actress Sue Nicholls.

Tickets at £22 (under 16s, £12) are available from the Bridgewater Hall box office 0161 907 9000 or www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk.  Family tickets for four (only one ticket holder has to be under 16) are £62.

Transport (£7 return) leaves Stagecoach Park and Ride, Hazel Grove; St George’s Church, Poynton; St Michael’s Church, Bramhall; The Village Hotel, Cheadle; United Reformed Church, Heald Green and St Ann’s Hospice, Heald Green. To book transport call Harry Bull on 0161 430 7706.