TWENTY five years ago, a concert was held at St Teath, to raise funds for two people with wished of building a children’s hospice — and a quarter of a century on these fundraising efforts are to be repeated in the same church, with some of the same faces, to raise funds for Children’s Hospice South West (CHSW).

The charity’s founders Eddie and Jill Farwell experienced for themselves the urgent need for hospice care for children in the South West. Their two eldest children, Katie and Tom, had life-limiting illnesses and they had to travel over four hours, from their home in North Devon to Helen House in Oxford, then the country’s only children’s hospice.

In 1991 they founded Children’s Hospice South West, and now, the charity has three hospices — Little Bridge House at Barnstaple, Charlton Farm, Bristol, and the newest hospice, Little Harbour, which opened in 2011 at St Austell.

There was a snippet of news about Eddie and Jill Farwell wishing to build a children’s hospice in the Western Morning News, which Terry Bale remembers reading 25 years ago. He set about organising a concert at St Teath’s Church: “This was something that I felt I could support — having beaten a life threatening illness I wanted to give back as much as I could.

“I came to St Teath, which is a family village for me, to meet my good friend Barry Burton, who is the landlord at the village pub. I knew he would help so I set the wheels in motion. I rang around all my friends in the entertainment world and waited to see who would come.

“The Champagne Ladies Chorus had just been formed and asked if they could take part. I will always remember their gaily coloured dresses — almost like fairies from a Christmas tree! Ray Budd, who had retired as a Minstrel also agreed to come, as did Stuart Biddick, a very talented musician and singer from slate city, and Peter Julian, a well known Cornish baritone who was home on holiday from Canada. By this time I decided we had the makings of a great evening of Cornish music.”

It was a real Christmas scene on December 6 1991. It was very cold and the church was surrounded by white frost. The church was full.

Terry added: “After an amazing concert I met with Barry who thought we may be able to raise £5,000, which was a huge amount at that time. This proved to be correct and it made the whole event so worthwhile.”

Everyone who took part in the original concert has been invited to St Teath Church on Friday, December 2, to take part in a thanksgiving celebration. Newquay Rowing Club have been invited to share the evening with them, as they decided to adopt CHSW as one of their charities after the concert 25 years ago.

The evening kicks off at the church at 7.30pm. Tickets are £5 and there will be a retiring collection.

The Post would be interested to hear from anyone who attended the event 25 years ago, or who has photographs from the concert. Please email or call 01566 778213.