Christmas single for Ponthafren
Cathy Beech is a Singing for Wellbeing tutor for Ponthafren, the charity based in Welshpool that provides vital mental health services across the area.
Her new Christmas single, Angel of Christmas, will raise £1 for every download and she hopes that she can tot up £1,000 for the charity over the festive period.
“I have been a massive advocate of Ponthafren for over six years now,” she told us.
“I love the work ethic and what they do to support those in a mental health crisis. They are quite simply an amazing organisation.
“As a vocal coach I have been doing the ‘Singing for Wellbeing’ programme for nearly five years now and because we have not been able to put events on this year, I thought the best way to raise funds was to release a single.
“My record producer wrote it with another songwriter called Christopher Sidwell, and he suggested we recorded this over 12 months ago, so I didn't have to do any travelling to get it done.”
The single can be downloaded here
Here is an interview carried out with Cathy courtesy of the Ponthafren web site.
What inspired you to write the song?
This song was commissioned by Hillz FM, a local radio station in Coventry for Glasslip Records to produce a song to raise funds for the homeless in 2018. When Keith, my producer and director of Glasslip Records, played it to me in the studio in 2019, he wanted to revisit it with me singing the lead for a group performance and asked me if I would like to record it. I said yes, it has such a beautiful message and has a light-hearted way of getting that message out to people.
What inspired you to produce it as a charity single?
This year has seen me set different priorities in regards to how I work within the music that I sing and create. Not being able to perform means that I have not been able to go out there and raise awareness on a big scale personally also. I have not been able to get to the studio as much so when my producer suggested to me that we re-release this song for a charity of my own choice this time, I was so overjoyed at his suggestion because it was already done and could be sent out there with minimal production or recording.
Why did you choose to support Ponthafren with a Charity Single?
Ponthafren has been a part of my life for over 12 years now, I have suffered myself from depression in many disguises from the age of 13, at times feeling suicidal, I was lucky to have such supportive family and friends to be able to overcome. Back in those days if you were feeling depressed, the common phrase was “Well snap out of it”. Thank Goodness most of that ignorance is gone now. So when I discovered how much work this organisation did to help those who, for whatever reason needed either, emotional, psychological or personal support through so many different activities, courses and counselling, I was blown away.
Mentally my health has been up and down for many years, but through my continued love of music, and singing in particular, I have been able to find a balance that now supports my life.
Organisations like Ponthafren are amazing in helping people to tap into those different coping strategies and experience different types of therapies without any judgement. It is a wonderful organisation and I am mega proud to be able to show my support.
What does the song mean to you?
It is so lovely to be asked this question. This song has a beauty to it that can only be felt through the lyrics and the music, that is always something that draws me to a song.
When I hear it, I see a young adult looking a a homeless person and wanting to help them somehow and be their friend, when I sing “All I want for Christmas is for you to think of me” I imagine the homeless person and the young adult holding hands and singing to each other, I am a bit of a dreamer that way. I feel it is important to believe in the goodness that is in all of us.
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