Cherry Lodge Cancer Care held our annual Lights of Love ceremony on Sunday 13th December 2020. The date and timing of this year’s event were as planned, but the venue had to be changed at the last moment to inside the Cherry Lodge centre, Howard House. It had been hoped to hold the ceremony as usual at the bandstand at The Spires but a trial run showed that the WiFi connection there was not good enough. The bandstand lights were therefore switched on in advance, at 4.30pm. Click Lights of Love movie to see the lights in action.
Lights of Love is always a special, emotional and emotive event and to hold it in the middle of a very serious pandemic made all of us realise just how devastating 2020 has been. The need for social distancing and the fact that singing was not allowed meant that only the organisers and those taking part in the ceremony could attend in person. We were therefore especially fortunate to have violinist Clare Hoffman willing to play for us, at the start of the ceremony, after the names of loved ones were read out to be remembered, and following the minute’s silence. This added a poignancy to the evening which proved very powerful indeed.
Although Covid restrictions made this occasion quite different from our previous Lights of Love occasions, it was hugely important for us to go ahead and remember those who were, and still are, so important and dear to our lives. Thank you to everyone who submitted names to be read out and to all those, especially to Fiona and Tina, who made this a successful Zoom event. Donations linked to our ceremony raised a fantastic £2,096.25 to help us keep all our services free of charge.
Click on the small images below to see larger, complete photographs.
