“Such a wonderful way to honour a loved one” – Laura’s Blog

Hi, my name is Laura. 1am a mum of 6, from Keighley in West Yorkshire. I am animal crazy! I love music and I attend the Voices of Yorkshire choir every week. Music has inspired me from an early age, I began singing when I was at school with encouragement from my lovely music teacher, who dedicated her own time to become my vocal coach. I had many years break before joining choir, and I have been loving having music in my life again ever since.

On the 31st, May 2024, after a fairly short battle with lung cancer, my wonderful dad succumbed to his iliness. My dad, Philip, was the head of our family. There is my mum, my Sister and myself. He inspired me in many things. He loved to watch me sing, dance etc as was growing up. He inspired my love of art. and my love of nature. He was a very gentle soul and had such a calming influence.

I first heard about The Swan Song Project, when an event, was set up by a member of our choir. The event, was a Beatles night, to raise money for the project. The gift, of a song sounded SO lovely. The more I thought about it, the more I thought about my dad and the words I had written. After a few weeks I plucked up the courage to email Ben. After having a little phone chat with Ben, I decided to go ahead and give it. a whirl! I was paired with Katie Billes. We had our first zoom meeting within a couple of weeks of my initial email to Ben. Katie was new to the project. and I was her first assignment! Katie immediately put me at ease. We chatted about ourselves a little. And then we chatted a lot about my dad, about the things we used to do growing up, about music that has influenced me and the musical style I was thinking of. I said I had written poetry which had been read out at, the funeral.

Following our first hours chat, which went by very quickly! I emailed my words to Katie. By the next session we got straight, in. We were able to use my words and Katie skillfully brought in some piano backing. Again we spent a lot of time chatting. Katie really wanted to capture everything my dad meant to us and she really took the time to get to know him. I sent pictures and we chatted over memories. Honestly, she couldn’t have captured him more perfectly than she did. I let Katie know what sort, of style I wanted to aim for and she magically pulled it together for a really beautiful backing track. If you take the time to listen, you can hear the waves and the nature that bring my words to life. Katie really was lovely and I think we really got on well. I felt that we were definitely on the same wavelength.

All in all, it. only took us about 8 weeks from initial email to g0ing to record the song! Recording day was great. It, was lovely to finally meet, Ben and Katie face to face. I was made to feel very comfortable. They explained the recording process and once I had sung it through and got used to hearing my own voice on the headset, it, was fairly simple. I was able to listen back to the recordings. We could replace bits that didn’t sound quite right. All in all I didn’t have to retake many times, but I was given plenty of time if I did want to chop and change.

I didn’t tell my Sister or my mum about my little mission. It was a complete surprise to them when I presented them the link to the finished song, entitled “T’ek care, See you soon”. Both of them absolutely loved it. I played the song for my children and they were pretty impressed. They knew instantly who the song was about, even when I purposely didn’t tell them to see if they would know. I am really very happy with how the song turned out. I did use my own vocals and backing vocals, but that isn’t mandatory, You can get someone else to sing it but honestly, it really is a beautiful Song. Even though I found it strange to listen to myself on a recording, it really has captured my dad and his character and Ienjoy listening to it.

I will be forever grateful to Ben, Katie and The Swan Song Project. Such a wonderful wonderful way to honour a loved one, to share your story and to get those words across when there’s not much else you can say. A lasting memory for your family to keep. I really do recommend you get in touch and see if they can help you. You won’t regret it.

Written by Laura Hanson 5/2/2026

Listen to “Tek Care, See You Soon” below.