ACTOR William Roache MBE played the role of Master of Ceremonies at Nightingale House Hospice’s Christmas Concert at Chester Cathedral.
William Roache, who plays Ken Barlow, the world’s longest-serving soap star and the only member remaining of the original cast of Coronation Street, introduced an array of stars, including The Fron Choir.
The concert raised more than £11,000 for the hospice.
The event was attended by more than 800 people who were treated to a duet from Ann Atkinson, the Fron Choir’s artistic director and Aled Wyn Davies, the international Welsh Tenor star who also sang several solos and musical arrangements by Phoenix Brass, a brass quintet based in Manchester. Chester-based King’s School Schola Cantorum also sang.
Caroline Siddall, income generation manager, said: “We are extremely grateful to all the artists who made this event so successful, particularly to The Fron Choir and William Roache.
“This is the second year The Fron has supported us in this way and now the choir has achieved such success in the charts with its best-selling albums, we can only thank the choir members once again for their continued support.
“We would also like to thank the volunteers who helped make this event run smoothly and to staff at Chester Cathedral for their help and advice.”
Nightingale House Hospice provides specialist palliative care services, completely free-of-charge, to patients and their families across a wide area stretching from Wrexham, Flintshire, East Denbighshire to Barmouth and the border towns including Oswestry and Whitchurch.
This year alone, it will cost £2.5m to run the hospice, this equates to £7,000 per day.
Only 20% of this comes from statutory government sources. The hospice greatly relies on the generosity of the communities it serves.
