As we approached the lead up to Light up a Life in the year 2020, it felt very unsettling to know that the family and friends of those cared for at the Hospice were not going to have the opportunity to come together, light candles and sing carols in memory of their loved ones. Year after year, this event means so much to people as we all gather together outside, often in the coldest weather and watch as the lights are illuminated on the wonderful tree, the lights that pay tribute to all the amazing people who are loved and missed.
As we faced more and more uncertainty, we were given no other choice but to cancel our beloved event but we couldn’t not have our special Light up a Life service so we started to think of ways we could create a similar experience to that of “normal” times, from making a dedication to finding a loved ones name in our Book of Memories, we had to make it work.
We placed the image of our beautiful tree online to make dedications virtually and see the lights twinkling in their honour, we added our Book of Memories, which was filled with all the names of the dedications made to our campaign and we created a pack including a candle and our order of service to send out that we hoped would make you feel like you were part of something really special.
As far as our service went, we had to ensure it was accessible for all and went about creating something that we hoped would do our live service justice. We would like to say a huge thank you to our wonderful charity partner The Mill Group who helped us create our virtual service. We knew it would be difficult to try and replicate the closeness and community spirit that is created each year but with the Mill Group's support, we managed to create something that has touched the hearts of our supporters and their families at a time that it really mattered. It was a very moving evening for us when the video went live and the comments started to stream in from those watching. It was wonderful to know that people were coming together virtually in memory of so many special people.
Light up a Life has raised over £28,000, which is the most our campaign has ever raised. We were overwhelmed with the number of dedications we received, which are now helping so many other families at the Hospice right now. What a wonderful tribute to your loved ones.
Here’s a very short snippet of our event in December.