When our plans to release our Christmas album were halted by the pandemic, we tentatively decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign, and to our surprise, we raised enough pledges to cover the costs to release ‘Christmas Harmony’ in October.
We were so touched by the support we received that once the album was out, we decided to donate at least £1 from the sale of each CD to support a charity. We chose Barnardos because the lockdown has taken its toll on everyone, especially children. Despite lockdown we raised over £100 with the help of local stores, family, and friends. Some of those stores had to close days after stocking our CD due to the lockdown in December and we now know that they will remain closed until mid-April.
We have four children between us, and the online schooling juggle has been tough for many reasons. One of Meinir’s daughters was diagnosed with autism in 2018. It wasn’t a big surprise, but it was a welcome relief for her daughter, who had spent her whole life navigating and trying to fit into a predominantly neuro-typical world by masking her autism. A daily struggle that was emotionally exhausting for her and her family. Her primary school embraced the news with open arms; put support strategies in place, and slowly started to see the real child behind the mask. The child who desperately wanted to be home-schooled because that daily struggle to fit in and be understood was so hard. Little did we know what 2020 had in store, and let’s just say that home-schooling will not be happening by choice!
Fast forward to February 2021, and the buildup of anxiety surrounding the lockdown and online schooling resulted in self harm and a trip to A&E with a suspected broken hand. The wall that was punched didn’t win on this occasion, but one good thing came out of the situation – School offered her the option to go into their Hub, which in turn resulted in a referral to the Barnardos school-based counselling service. What a twist of fate! One of our own children is by now benefitting from the wonderful work that Barnardos do (and loving it!).
As a result, we have decided to extend our fundraising by donating £2 from the sale of each copy of our debut album ‘Pure Harmony’ to Barnardos.
You never know, there may be some fundraising concerts in the post-lockdown pipeline. And if all goes well, at least one of us will run a marathon in aid of Barnardos towards the end of the year!
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