Give a little Hope this Christmas

Shropshire Council has today (Friday 2 December 2011) launched a Christmas song to raise money for local charity Hope House Children’s Hospices and need your help in making it number one! 

Shropshire Council has made the song, “O Holy Night”, at no cost, and is encouraging everyone to download it and raise money for charity.  All proceeds will go to Hope House Children’s Hospices to help continue their valuable work.  The song, performed by a local musician from Oswestry, Charlotte Edwards, is available for everyone to download today for only 79p from iTunes. 

Keith Barrow, Leader of the Council, said:

“We want everyone in Shropshire to get behind this song and help us raise as much as we can for Hope House.  Who knows, maybe we can even reach Christmas number one!  During these difficult economic times charities are struggling to raise the money that they need to carry out the valuable work that they do.  Christmas is a time for children and we really want to support our local charity Hope House with their fundraising this year.  This is a charity that is particularly close to my heart, they provide such a vital service to children, young people and their families across Shropshire and Wales, and we must ensure that this continues. 

“I would like to say a big thank you to both Charlotte, for volunteering to sing, and BBC Radio Shropshire, who very kindly donated their time and facilities to help us produce this song.  Without all of their help we wouldn’t have been able to produce such a fantastic song.  I also want to thank all of our staff who have been involved in producing the song and video, who have done so in their own time and at no cost to the council.  We want everyone to get involved, and we are asking everyone to send the link on so that as many people as possible have the opportunity to purchase the track, so please pass it on!” 

Hope House is a children’s hospice based in Oswestry, Shropshire.  They run two hospices for children with terminal illnesses based in Oswestry, Shropshire and Ty Gobaith, in Conwy, North Wales.  The service costs £4million a year, and relies almost entirely upon donations to continue their work.  Hope House opened in October 1995 followed, in 2004, by Ty Gobaith. 

To help support Hope House this Christmas please download the song here from iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/o-holy-night-single/id484471398?ls=1

or here from Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=charlotte+edwards&x=0&y=0

Sample the song on YouTube by clicking here.

For more information about Give a little Hope, click to the council’s website here.

Information about the artist

20-year-old Charlotte Edwards is a local musician from Oswestry.  She studied at The Marches School before attending Shrewsbury Sixth Form College.  She now studies music at university. 

Her main interest is music.  She plays the piano, flute and piccolo, as well as singing with various church choirs at home.  She was also a member of Oswestry Music Theatre Company for 4 years.  At university she sings in both the University Choir and University Chamber Choir.  She also plays in the Cardiff University Concert Orchestra, and has recently got into the BBC National Chorus of Wales.

Charlotte auditioned for her local church choir at the age of 8, and worked her way through the Royal School of Church Music awards, receiving the highest award, Gold, in 2006.  She then had private tuition and received her grade 8 distinction in 2008.

Plans for the future: After completing her undergraduate degree, and any further studying, she has an ambition to teach music at secondary school level.  Performing music, however, is her dream, so she will take any opportunity to perform.

Charlotte said:

“I was so pleased to help out with making the song and support Hope House.  For the past couple of years I have made it my priority to use music as a means to communicate with children.  Not only does it help with confidence but it provides escapism from everyday concerns and stresses.  Contributing to such a worthwhile cause through music is an absolute joy.  Music is the one universal language regardless of age, nationality or health.  Music expresses the sentiment that would otherwise be left unsaid.”