A YOUNG singer from Downend didn’t let torrential rain stop her from fulfilling a promise to perform an outdoor concert to raise money for Bristol Children’s Hospital.
Amelie Russ, aged 13, sang a set including songs by Adele and Whitney Houston through a downpour at the Lyde Green Summer Sizzler on September 17.
The free fun day at Bristol & Bath Science Park, which had been rearranged after a storm hit on its initial date in July, suffered extreme bad luck with the weather, leaving only a few hardy souls under marquees and umbrellas to watch Amelie’s performance.
But online donations by supporters and cash given by people at the event totalled £245, which Amelie is donating to Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal for the children’s hospital.
Dad Stuart said having to perform as the rain poured down was a “character-building experience” for Amelie, who also had a weather-affected gig at the South Gloucestershire Show in August
But he said she was determined to raise money for the children’s hospital, having been treated for chronic asthma as an inpatient when she was three years old.
Stuart said: “Amelie remembers being in the children’s hospital and afterwards when we drove past she would always refer to it as ‘my hospital’.
“After the performance she was sopping wet but smiling – I gave her a big hug.
“If she’s selling out stadiums when she’s older we can look back on it and laugh – you just have to keep smiling on a day like that.”
Downend School Year 9 pupil Amelie previously raised £1,000 for NHS Charities Together with a concert on her front drive in Bromley Heath during the lockdown in 2020.
She followed it up with a concert live-streamed via Facebook the following year which raised £220 for the Rainbow Trust, a charity which provides bespoke support for families who have a child with a serious illness, after being moved by a neighbour’s fight against leukaemia.
Amelie’s next planned performance is in December with her singing school, and she is also working towards a Grade 6 singing exam.
Donations to the fundraiser can be made online at gofund.me/e795bb44.