Four Weeks Until Suffolk Remembers
There are only four weeks to go until the return of St Elizabeth Hospice’s much-loved remembrance event, Suffolk Remembers is held for 2024.
Every year Suffolk Remembers, sees 5,000 candles displayed along Felixstowe seafront as hundreds of people gather to remember their loved ones, as the moving remembrance service brings the annual Suffolk Day is brought to a close.
Taking place on Friday 21st June from 9pm-10pm, this year’s event will see live performances from Ipswich singer, Roma Manteiga-Nicholson, Pop Chorus choir and Martlesham Brass as well as a number of poetry readings. Also in attendance will be the Suffolk High Sheriff, Yvonne Gilchrist-Mason, and Canon Philip Banks of St Edmundsbury Cathedral.
Catherine Sheppard, Individual Giving Manager at St Elizabeth Hospice, said: “Suffolk Remembers is a very special day in the hospice calendar, where we join with the local community to remember those no longer with us and bring Suffolk Day to a close in a poignant way.
“Once again, on 21st June, we look forward to welcoming one and all to Suffolk Remembers, where we will celebrate the lives of our loved ones on the beautiful Felixstowe seafront, as we listen to a number of readings and musical performances.”
Now in its eighth year, Suffolk Remembers is a free to attend event, but with each dedicated candle the hospice kindly asks supporters to consider making a donation to the independent Suffolk charity, which every year cares for more than 4,000 patients, living with a progressive or life-limiting illness, and their families throughout East Suffolk, Great Yarmouth and Waveney.
All are welcome to dedicate a candle, even if they have not previously been under the hospice’s care, and the hospice is encouraging all who have lost a friend or relative to take the opportunity to join people from across the region in remembering them through Suffolk Remembers 2024, which once again is sponsored by East of England Co-op Funeral Services.
This year at Suffolk Remembers, Anne Edmunds will be remembering her wife Jill Sly, by lighting and dedicating a candle. Jill died in August 2022 while receiving support from St Elizabeth Hospice, shortly after being diagnosed with a brain tumour in July and having just celebrated her 69th birthday.
“By lighting candles, seeing your loved one’s name lit up makes the whole evening very personal to those we have lost,” Anne explained.
“By listening to the stories of others, the readings, the poems, enjoying the choir and the band, really helps me feel at peace with myself and go some way towards the long process of healing.
“It is lovely to feel part of something in the company of those who too, are grieving quietly.”
Each dedication will also include a photo and a message to a loved one which will be included in the Suffolk Remembers’ online gallery and a physical, battery candle will be added to the hospice’s physical event display.
The candles will be displayed from Friday 21st June, at Felixstowe Seafront Gardens, until 1pm on Monday 24th June 2024.
To dedicate a candle and to find out further information about Suffolk Remembers visit www.stelizabethhospice.org.uk/suffolk-remembers/, email fundraising@stelizabethhospice.org.uk or call 01473 723600.
