Online auction aims to make big difference for disabled Arundel twin babies

SussexWorld

Beverly Cerexhe-Dickens, founder of the Chichester Big Band, is offering an important fund-raiser at her next concert, the Gatsby Gala bringing together with the Chichester Big Band and the Regis Jazz Band on Saturday, October 25.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, lovely this afternoon to speak to Beverly Thorex Dickens about a really special

00:07fundraiser, a concert coming up. It's your Chichester Big Band, combining with the Regis

00:13Jazz Band, Saturday, October the 25th at the Jubilee Hall in Uving, with tickets available

00:19on Ticket Source. Now, it's raising money for such an important cause, isn't it? And

00:26it's all centring on your granddaughters. Tell me, tell me what, what's the thinking

00:31behind this concert? Well, we'd originally planned to have the concert that was booked

00:37in. Oh gosh, we decided to do that last year. But I've been running a fundraising campaign

00:45for the babies. We need to buy them a large motor vehicle to carry themselves, their parents,

00:52the carer and their medical equipment. And sadly, they are born with, they were born

00:57with disabilities. What is the problem? Well, they were born with Apert Syndrome, which presents

01:05with abnormalities of the skull and facial features and of the hands and feet. There's various other

01:16medical things going on. But they're coming along very nicely, notwithstanding the medical

01:22problems that they've got. And they've had to have lots of surgery, haven't they, over the

01:27month? They've had lots of surgery. They've still got some to come, but they're doing very

01:32nicely. They're happy. Their development, whilst it is a little behind, they are catching up.

01:39But I'm trying to raise money to help to buy them a bigger vehicle. And this is why we're

01:48doing the online auction. The reason for the bigger vehicle is what? The sheer practicality

01:54of things then, presumably. Yeah. Well, they have a carer as well and lots of medical equipment to

02:00take around with them. And the family vehicle that they've got is just, it's very inadequate.

02:06So there's going to be an online auction at the event, isn't there? And how much are you

02:12hoping to raise? Well, at this online auction, I don't know, we'd like to raise a couple of

02:19thousand pounds, hopefully, to add to what we've already raised. Local businesses have been

02:25very supportive, giving us lots of wonderful gifts to auction off. We've got restaurant vouchers,

02:34beauty treatments, champagne, a year's membership to a tennis club. Everybody's just being so

02:43generous. Oh, it's clearly touching people's hearts, isn't it? But just give an idea, it

02:49must be so tough. It's your daughter and your son-in-law, isn't it?

02:53My daughter and my son-in-law, it is, yes. But they've been amazing. Absolutely amazing.

02:59And what's their life like, living with these disabilities?

03:02It's changed drastically. As you can imagine, it was a huge, huge shock when the babies were

03:10born, to all of us, because for such a long time, all they seemed to have was bad news.

03:19But eventually, they did turn a corner. It's still very hard. It's upended their lives. But

03:25they've got a very big support network in both sets of parents and their families.

03:32And a fabulous grandmother.

03:35It's just all hands to the pump. We all help as much as we possibly can to try and make it a bit

03:42easier for them. Yeah. And the console sounds a lovely, fun way of making a difference, isn't it?

03:48It is. Yeah. It is. Yeah. I mean, I would like to stress that it's just the online auction at the

03:55concert that's for the babies. Our band does two or three charity gigs a year. But we are going to,

04:04because the Snowdrop Trust have been so helpful to the children, we're going to do a charity gig for

04:12the Snowdrop Trust next year. Oh, fantastic. Well, let me know when that happens.

04:18Yes. It's just nice to give something back.

04:20Yeah. And your band, the Chichester Big Band, how many years have you been doing it now? It's a little

04:25while, isn't it? It's been going six years now.

04:27Six years.

04:28Nearly six years, yes.

04:30And you must feel that they're really established now, aren't they?

04:33It is, yes. And I remember you and I had a meeting about the band about six years ago.

04:37We did indeed, yeah.

04:39Yeah, it's going really well.

04:41And if you can survive the pandemic and all the horrors attached to that, you can do brilliantly,

04:45can't you? And you are.

04:46Yeah, we did, yes. We managed to keep practising when we were allowed to.

04:52And what's the fun of the big band? What makes you do it?

04:57I guess it's the enjoyment of music, but it's also the social side. And it's fun. We do take

05:05the music seriously when we've got a gig coming up, but we do try to make it fun because we want

05:11to have happy musicians and happy musicians stay.

05:17Brilliant. Well, good luck with the fundraising, the online auction at the concert, which is the

05:22Chichester Big Band and the Regis Jazz Band on Saturday, October the 25th at the Jubilee Hall

05:28in the evening. Tickets on Ticket Source.

05:30Thanks, Beverly. Really lovely to speak to you again. Congratulations on the band.

05:33Thank you so much.

05:34And I hope it would be a brilliant evening. Thank you.

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