Big-hearted singers support hospice care ~Churchdown Male Voice Choir brings an evening of music to Minchinhampton

A MUCH-LOVED LOCAL CHOIR is lending its voices to hospice care this Christmas, with Churchdown Male Voice Choir, under the baton of its music director Ralph Barnes, giving a fundraising concert for Longfield Community Hospice at Holy Trinity Church, Minchinhampton, on Saturday 5th December.

Behind the concert is a deeply personal story. Pete Simms, Chair of the choir’s Media and Events Committee, experienced Longfield’s support first-hand when his wife, June was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2021.

“Both she and I received counselling at Longfield. We also attended several other activities within the hospice, all of which helped us come to terms not only with the diagnosis, but also with what the immediate and long-term future held,” he said.

Following his wife’s death in 2023, Pete began volunteering at Longfield, carrying out her wish that he should find a way of repaying the help they had received.