At the time of writing this I am in my fourth week as Fundraising Manager at The Swan Song Project – and what a fantastic four weeks it has been! I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on my time so far and to share a thing or two with you.
Having been a Swan Song supporter for some time, and an experienced fundraiser, I jumped at the chance to join the team. My passion for the charity was fuelled by witnessing Vic Simborowski perform his Swan Song ‘Shades of Love’ last year. I’ll never forget this and Vic’s lyrics still linger in my mind today:
“Your love gave me life, and it carried me through…Of all the shades of love, this one’s for you.”
Starting a new role during a pandemic is certainly out of the ordinary, but I’m up for the challenge for this extraordinary cause. If my experience in the charity sector to date has taught me anything it’s to be resilient and adaptable. Like Ben (the charity’s Creative Director and Founder) who created the opportunity for people to write their Swan Song virtually and started a podcast featuring songwriters during Covid-19. I recently received an email that stated, “You are very lucky getting to work on such an amazing project!” I couldn’t agree more.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, and also been thoroughly moved by, the conversations I’ve had about Swan Song since joining the team. These have ranged from finding out more from individuals with personal experience of the project to sharing my new knowledge with those who haven’t come into contact with it before. A lovely lady who I had the pleasure of speaking to recently was Alexia, wife of the late Ron Reed. Alexia kindly wrote a blog of her own recently and I encourage you to read this if you can. Here’s a short extract:
“The words that Ron and Ben wrote live in me always, and give me hope. It’s best said in the final words of Ron’s song: ‘But somewhere in the distance, I can see a light. And it calls me to come closer, and it promises to make it right. Make it alright. Everything is alright.’”
As a charity we rely on fundraising to provide our service and we are hugely grateful to everyone who has supported to date. Since I started we received the great news that we have secured further funding from The National Lottery Community Fund. A Community Champion at a local supermarket, who put Swan Song forward to receive a donation after I reached out to her, described the charity as “amazing” and that meant so much.
If you too are able to support Swan Song in some way, no matter how large or small, we’d love to hear from you. For example, can you make a donation in lieu of Christmas cards? Can you nominate Swan Song as your workplace’s charity of the year? Can you take on a sponsored challenge? What you do is up to you. Feel free to get in touch to discuss. Your support means that more Swan Songs will be sung and that is something special.
Here’s to more celebrating lives, making memories and leaving legacies.
Gemma
gemmacross@swansongproject.co.uk