New Good Deed

Remember a while ago I said I wasn't allowed to give blood any more? Well I've finally signed up to a new good deed to replace that one. I went to the Royal Hampshire Hospital in Winchester to play the keyboard for the service at the chapel this morning. Actually I was meant to start before Christmas, but various things have prevented the chapel services from taking place - mainly the cold weather, which causes more illnesses, then when infection levels in the hospital get too high they don't move patients from their wards if they can help it, to minimise the risk of cross-infection.

So today was the first time there had been a chapel service for quite a few weeks. What I didn't know was that the time of the service had been moved from 10:30 to 11:00, so I got there ridiculously early at 10:00, but that was OK. The service is only short, but I played some music as people were being brought from their wards, then we sang two hymns, one of which was Amazing Grace and someone complained that the notes were too high so I had to do a quick on-the-spot transposition down a few keys to make it easier for people to sing.

It was amazing to see the chaplain and her assistants with the patients - they all made the patients feel so special and cared for, just by giving them their full attention, even if it was only for a few minutes each. I'll be playing approximately once a month at the chapel and I'm really looking forward to getting to know the people there.