Last weekend Dorking held their first socially distanced live music event since lockdown began in March.
It felt wonderful to be sitting in the sunshine listening to live music again, a little taste of how things were before!
Andy Duerden’s performance of a song he wrote near the beginning of lockdown felt particularly moving:
… when the day comes that we can move around, it’s all because of you …
Andy wrote and released this song to raise money for the Care Workers Charity having been moved after a conversation with a friend.
“A few weeks ago I spoke to a friend of mine, Jon, who is COO of several Care Homes in the South East. I offered to beam some music into his homes to entertain his residents.
Jon was grateful but said that he and his staff were fully focussed on “the carnage which is heading our way”.
He was right. Three weeks later and Jon’s Care Homes reported regular deaths and even had staff seriously ill on ventilators.
Having had more time to sit and write during lockdown, Jon and his situation were very much in my mind. As were my cousin, a GP, and her husband, an Anaesthetist, who were both battling away on the front line.
Whether I liked it or not, out came this song. The sentiments in it were aimed directly at my friends and relatives on the front line and of course all of their colleagues.
Things happened quite quickly after that.
Firstly Jon used the song in a video he had made to thank and encourage his heroic staff. On the back of that, the song attracted Label interest and is now released on all major platforms worldwide.
My aim?…. well to sell copies of course. Quite simply, the more this song sells, the more I can send back to the Frontline workers. My initial focus will be on Care Workers and so I will send money first to the Care Workers Charity.
But if this grows, I’ll be able to send money to Nurses, Paramedics and organisations which support all of these remarkable people.”