Perse singers go busking to raise funds for hospice charity

10 Dec 2019

Four-piece vocal group Cantores, featuring Neil Sardesai, James Hansen, Nicholas Romanos (all Lower Sixth) and Alex Walker (OP 2019), went busking in the Grand Arcade to raise money for the Arthur Rank Hospice Charity.

They were joined by Jay Sardesai (Year 11), Hannah Balane, Alessandra French, Mila Henderson-Gill, Camillo Padulli (all Lower Sixth) and Jenny Jiang (OP 2019) for the performance.

Neil Sardesai reflects on their day below.

Arthur Rank Hospice is an amazing charity that supports people living with life-limiting illnesses or needing end-of-life care. Unfortunately, hospices in the UK only receive about 30% of their funding from the Government. As such, the Arthur Rank Hospice Charity is dependent on kind donations from the public in order to deliver their services free of charge to patients and their loved ones.

As a volunteer at the hospice myself, I’ve seen first-hand the outstanding quality of care Arthur Rank delivers to its patients and their families. Indeed, after I described Arthur Rank Hospice’s work to the rest of the choir, we immediately decided to visit and perform to their residents. Following a successful set of concerts at care homes in Cambridge, we felt confident enough to perform publicly. After many weeks of planning, we performed publicly for the first time.

Busking in the Grand Arcade was a super experience. Not only were we able to raise money for Arthur Rank Hospice Charity, but we also met members of the public who shared their personal stories about the care and support they had received from its services. Moreover, volunteering at Arthur Rank has helped make the busking exceptionally rewarding, as I regularly see the positive impact the generous donations have.

Cantores will return to the city centre on Saturday 14 December to continue raising money for Arthur Rank Hospice Charity.