We’re delighted to have strengthened our relationship with St Gemma’s Hospice after being asked to support its annual ‘Light Up a Life’ event in December.
Taking place on the 12th December, Light up a Life is an annual event curated by St Gemma’s Hospice to give people across Leeds the opportunity to come together and celebrate those special people they are missing.
After successfully working with the hospice on a virtual ‘Light Up a Life’ event in 2020, we will be providing an outdoor stage, lighting, audio and event production support for this year’s event. New for 2021, we will also be providing additional live streaming to YouTube for remote viewers.
We have previously supported St Gemma’s Hospice on a variety of projects, including delivering its remembrance services to be live streamed on YouTube, as the events couldn’t be held in person during the COVID-10 lockdowns.
Commenting on the upcoming project, AYRE managing director, Chris Ayre said:
“As with many events, last years ‘Light Up a Life’ celebration wasn’t able to go ahead as normal. This is the first event since the pandemic that St Gemma’s Hospice has held, and we wanted to make sure it comes back with a bang.
“We’re delighted to be supporting with lighting, audio, event production and outdoor staging, which is a brand new service for us. We’re now able to provide several different stage sizes, ideal for charity events such as this one, but also local beer festivals and other community events.”
Sophia Last, Senior Fundraiser (In Memory Giving) at St Gemma’s Hospice adds:
“In 2020 due to events being cancelled in response to the pandemic, we were unable to hold our usual in person event at St Gemma’s Hospice. Thanks to a recommendation from The Kirkwood, we were put in touch with AYRE Events to support us running an online version of our event. Organising this was simple and Chris took away any stress we had about the technicalities of broadcasting a live event online.
“For 2021, we are planning to hold our Light up a Life event in person again, with hundreds of people coming to the Hospice to remember loved ones. However due to the amazing feedback we had from last year’s online event, we want to also broadcast the event live online. This will enable the event to be far more inclusive, for those who can’t come to the Hospice due to living far away or even for those who find it hard to stand up outside for an hour in December weather!
“The event itself felt really special even though it was very different to before. The feedback we had was fantastic, everyone was just grateful we offered them a chance to remember loved ones during the Christmas period.
”We can’t wait to see how AYRE will take our 2021 Light up a Life event to the next level, to make it the most special event for people to return to after a year of not being able to come to the Hospice and remember special loved ones.
“As well as working with AYRE on our Light up a Life event, they have also supported us in running online memorial services for families whose loved ones were cared for at the Hospice. This has been a vital chance for families to remember loved ones who sadly died in the last year. This has felt particularly important considering many families were unable to have the funerals they would have wanted for their loved one. These have all had fantastic feedback from grateful families. Being able to use AYRE’s event space at their studio meant we knew we were going to have all the right equipment there, so all we had to do was turn up and speak!
“Chris has been so helpful this last year with providing general advice and feedback about how we can improve our events. Having an industry expert who understood the government guidance and rules around restrictions to events during the pandemic was also invaluable. Any queries or worries I knew I would get quick and clear responses from Chris – AYRE’s support has genuinely been so useful throughout this last crazy year. Thanks from all of us at St Gemma’s Hospice!”
