Shirley Bassey to be patron of children’s hospital

Mar 26 2008 Western Mail

DAME Shirley Bassey is to be a patron of a children’s hospital’s fundraising charity, it was announced yesterday.

The Cardiff-born singer joins Catherine Zeta-Jones and Charlotte Church as patron of the Noah’s Ark Appeal. She has been a supporter of the campaign to build the Children’s Hospital of Wales in Cardiff for several years and a cancer ward there is named after her.

A further £4m is needed to complete the hospital, which admitted its first patients three years ago.

Dame Shirley said, “I am thrilled to have become a patron of what I consider an extremely worthy and high-profile charity. Phase One was a magnificent, pioneering achievement, and I cannot wait to see what will be achieved through the coming campaign.

“The people of Wales have spoken – they want world-class healthcare for their children, and I have no doubt the appeal will deliver.”

In 2003, Dame Shirley gave £125,000 to the appeal from the sale of her dresses at an auction marking her half-century in showbusiness. She visited sick children being treated at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, while the children’s hospital was being built on the same site and donned a hard hat and fluorescent coat to tour the ward that bears her name.

Lyn Jones, Noah’s Ark Appeal chairman, said, “It will be fantastic to have a patron who has shown such sterling and stalwart support for our cause, and I know that she will campaign wholeheartedly with us.”

New mother Church is due to announce details of the charity’s new fundraising campaign tomorrow. Sir Stanley Thomas is president of the appeal, and other supporters have been honoured as vice-presidents.

Entertainer Max Boyce, rugby legend Gareth Edwards and radio presenter Roy Noble take up those positions, joined by businessmen Henry Engelhardt, Gerald Davies and Derek Morgan.