Musicians affected by cancer uniting to perform

A group of musicians affected by cancer are coming together to perform.

Flautist Suzy Blewett said she promised her surgeon she would host a concert to raise money for The Big Space Cancer Appeal after undergoing an operation for mouth cancer two years ago.

Launched by Cheltenham & Gloucester Hospitals Charity in 2024, the appeal is raising money to build a £17.5m cancer centre at Cheltenham General Hospital.

Blewett contacted 25 musicians she knew and organised a free-to-attend concert. "We thought we'd make a concert of light music, we've even got the tune to the Vicar of Dibley - everyone knows that," she said.

Blewett founded the Cotswold Flute Choir in 1985, which saw her perform in Malta, Spain and Italy.

She has been a professional flute player in Gloucestershire for more than four decades and said it was "quite easy" to decide to give back nine months after her successful surgery.

Speaking about the concert, she said: "Some [of the musicians] had breast cancer, some have bowel cancer and some of them have been treated in Cheltenham and Gloucester as well."

Community fundraiser Imogen Sims said the planned "state-of-the-art" cancer centre, for which half the money has already been raised, would "transform cancer care" in Gloucestershire.

"Oncology staff are incredible but unfortunately the building does let us down and we desperately need a new building," she added.

The new space would include patient rooms, space for research trials and a therapeutic garden. Existing facilities in the current oncology centre would also be improved.

A Spring Wind Serenade, the concert organised by Blewett, will take place at 18:00 BST on 18 April at the Bethesda Methodist Church in Cheltenham.

Donations to the Cheltenham and Gloucester Hospitals Charity will be collected at the end of the concert.