King's Sutton husband organises fundraising concert after promising dying wife to repair hospice road

David Barratt is putting on the Songs For The Road concert to raise money to pay for the resurfacing of the potholed access road leading to the Katharine House Hospice.

David’s wife, Susan, spent her final days at the hospice before sadly passing away, aged 77, on August 10 last year after her auto-immune condition morphed into cancer.

He said: “Susan came to love Katharine House. She loved the gardens and the activities, but most of all, she loved the people who looked after her.

"She was in such excruciating pain that on her visits to the hospice, the potholed access road was not a comfortable experience for her, but she persevered.

"In one of her last conscious moments, she whispered to me, ‘make sure you get that access road repaired’.”

David, a construction engineer, made a promise to Susan that he would repair the road, guaranteeing painless journeys in the future for those receiving therapy at the hospice.

After speaking to members of staff at Katharine House, David received a letter of authority to raise funds for the repair work and has set himself a goal of £30,000 by February 2025, with the aim of carrying out the work that year.

David added: “I have started raising funds by giving talks and selling some of my books, and I am currently in the process of promoting a concert to be held at King’s Sutton Parish Church.

“The concert will be a variety of performances by local amateur and international professional singers and instrumentalists.

"One of the performers is my brother, who was a professional opera singer and is coming out of retirement for the concert.”

Alongside David’s brother Jack Barratt singing tenor, his son Matthew, professional pianist niece Susan, young saxophonist Lucy Blackburn and members of the King’s Sutton Fabula Community Choir will join David on stage.

He said: “Five choral pieces will be given by King’s Sutton Community Choir, who are also known by the name Fabula Community Choir.

"The evening will be rounded off by the heart-rending song ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ from Carousel, when the audience will be invited to join in and raise the roof.”

The concert will be held at King’s Sutton Parish Church on Saturday April 27 at 6.00pm. Tickets are £10 and are available at King’s Sutton Post Office, the Butchers Arms and the White Horse pubs in King’s Sutton.