Richmond’s Town Hall was “pumping” on Saturday, October 6, for the ‘One Night Only’ concert that raised more than $2000 for the Blood Cancer and Leukaemia Foundations.
“We had virtually a capacity audience and we’re still getting emails and texts from audience members who loved it,” says Norman Phillips of the Nelson Male Voice Choir.
Norman, together with Town Hall manager Mary-Ann McNatty and crooner Phil Rimmer, put the concert together and now impressed concert goers are calling for the group to make it an annual event.
“When you sing in a choir you can really feel the audience reactions and, on that night, it was palpable,” says Norman.
“We’ve had such great feedback. People really liked the humour and it was great to support that charity, there’re a lot of people affected by it (blood cancer and leukaemia).”
Leukemia and Blood Cancer New Zealand say that, every day, six people in New Zealand are diagnosed with a blood cancer like leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma or a related-blood condition.
Mary-Ann knows only too well the challenges blood cancer presents after receiving a diagnosis of stage 3 multiple myeloma in 2015, she is now happily in remission.
The blood cancers combined are the fifth most common form of cancer in New Zealand.