19 years ago my sister Alice died from Cystic Fibrosis at the age of 30. Alice had just signed a record contract with Sony and had released her debut album Daydreams to critical acclaim. She was an extraordinary individual with a great sense of purpose and a wicked sense of humour.
When Alice’s friends and our family launched an appeal fund in her memory, I painted an alphabetical series of pictures entitled ‘A is for Alice’ celebrating her life, character and achievement, which was sold at auction. It was in some ways the template for the alphabetical designs based on my children which you can see in the gallery on this site.
The Alice Martineau Appeal was officially launched by the Duchess of York in June 2004, and has since then raised £2 million. The main annual fundraiser for the Appeal is Carols by Candlelight, which takes place at St Luke’s Church, Sydney Street, SW3 every December. Our Patron is Dame Judi Dench and we are supported every year by some wonderful celebrity readers from the worlds of literature, TV and theatre.
This year is the 20th Anniversary of Carols by Candlelight and the service will take place on Thursday 15th December at St Luke’s Church.
