As you are aware, we sadly lost our dear friend and U3A Secretary, Sandra Welham, to cancer on 29th February this year.
Sandra had a great love of music and had been involved with several choirs throughout her years in Spain and formed the Let´s Sing Together U3A singing group which many members are part of and enjoy. She was also one of the founder members of the original Entertainers along with her husband, Bob.
It was Sandra´s wish to have a musical celebration of her life so the Goodwill team, the charity fundraising arm of the U3A Vall del Pop, of which Sandra was the founder, sprang into action to make it happen. A huge thank you to all Goodwill team members for your hard work.
The Entertainers very kindly agreed to perform for us, as did our own Paul and Judy Corazzo, and a picnic in the park evening at Los Arcos was born. It was decided to theme the evening to make it feel like an English summer event (without the rain!) so guests were invited to dress themselves and/or their tables to reflect Wimbledon, Henley or Ascot.
Several tables really entered into the spirit with 2 fabulous Wimbledon tables and 2 Ascot tables, one of which showed a very creative, pink ¨Barbie goes to Ascot¨theme, and Dolly and Geraldine from The Entertainers judged Barbie and the Wimbledon tables to be the winners and Bob presented bottles of cava as prizes.
Guests were welcomed by Paula Barrett, Secretary of the U3A Vall del Pop and member of the Goodwill team, then the party started with Paul and Judy J, who were dear friends of Sandra´s, singing a fabulous variety of well know songs for the first hour while guests enjoyed their sumptuous picnics. Paul and Judy very kindly support many of our fundraising events and are firm favourites of the U3A Vall del Pop members!
The Entertainers then took to the stage and, as always, were fabulous. They started with a tribute to Sandra and sang some of the songs she used to sing with them including ¨The Wind Beneath my Wings¨ which we heard a magical recording of Sandra singing at her funeral. Bob then joined them on stage to sing a special version of Annie´s song, a favourite of his, which included an extra verse as he always considers it too short!
During the interval Bob spoke about Sandra and thanked Cancer Care Javea for their help and support and presented Jeanette Missons, their President, with 2500 Euros in Sandra´s memory, made up of donations and money raised from the evening. Jeanette thanked everyone then spoke about the wonderful work they do, both in terms of helping those affected by cancer, and also in funding vital research into genetic sequencing to enable treatment to be individualised according to one´s genetic makeup. She advised that shockingly 1 in 2 of us now will get cancer at some point in our lives, up from 1 in 10 ten years ago, and they currently have 180 people they are helping to look after. An a positive note they have just employed a 3rd nurse so we hope our contribution will go towards helping others.
The raffle was then drawn with 21 super prizes ranging from champagne, designer handbag and purse to vouchers. Thank to everyone who gave and bought so generously. Bob very kindly presented flowers and wine to all the performers.
The second set by The Entertainers was faster paced and guests partied until the very last song with a packed dance floor throughout and the evening sadly drew to a close at 11pm. No one wanted the evening to end.
The event was intended to be a tribute to Sandra and a celebration of her life and 160 friends and guests attended to make this happen. You could feel the love and friendship in the air and it was a truly special night. It was also a way to say thank you to the Cancer Care Javea team who helped to care for Sandra at home and whose support and professionalism were an invaluable help. It was lovely that so many of the Cancer care team and volunteers attended including Alison, Sandra´s nurse.
It was a truly wonderful evening that Sandra would have loved and a fitting tribute to a very special lady.
Thank you to everyone who attended and supported and to everyone who helped to make it such a success, not least Paul and Judy, The Entertainers Bob and the Goodwill team.
