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Don Airey supports British hospital

Don Airey with the staff of children's ward at Addenbrooke's Hospital

Don Airey has donated £83,100 (approx. $129,000 or €114,500) to the children’s ward at the Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge News reports. He visited the ward, presented the cheque, spoke to the patients and even played some keyboards with them.

Don raised the money over more than two decades by playing charity gigs, including the annual Gransden Blues and Soul, which he has been organising since 1993. About 1,000 people attended this year’s concert on June 27 which raised £6,000 on this occasion alone.

Don’s son has received treatment for a serious illness at the hospital in 1992.

When I was a regular visitor to the children’s wards they were a real oasis of compassion when life was hard for our family. Addenbrooke’s was such a help to us. We’re forever grateful. I will keep supporting as best I can.

Addenbrooke’s is one of the leading hospitals in the UK and is a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Cambridge. The donation could not have come at a better time, as the hospital has fallen on financial hardship recently, projecting a £64 million deficit in 2015-16, and was placed in “special measures” administration.

Thanks to BraveWords and Nigel Young for the info.



27 Comments to “Don Airey supports British hospital”:

  1. 1
    Roberto says:

    Congratulations Don! You deserve all the success in your career.

  2. 2
    Kevin Kober says:

    Blimey! Fair play.

  3. 3
    Rob Hodgkinson says:

    A wonderful man 🙂

  4. 4
    Pascal Barré says:

    Such a gentleman AND a nice person !

  5. 5
    Uli Surburg says:

    Great ??

  6. 6
    Charlie Grigal says:

    Don Airey, a real class act!

  7. 7
    Uwe Wildgrube says:

    Great

  8. 8
    Fritz Minhard says:

    Hero!

  9. 9
    Thomas Olsson says:

    Well done Don!

  10. 10
    George Martin says:

    I was fortunate enough to meet Don twice on Deep Purple’s last US tour. I’ll never forget the time at the Bergen PAC in Englewood. When he arrive I asked him if he could sign my copy of Now What that I had brought with me. He said I just need to go inside for about ten minutes and I’ll be back out. He was with Ian Paice at the time. I could hear them playing Uncommon Man from outside the venue. Sure enough a man of his word he came back out about ten minutes later and Paice was with him. They both signed my album and took pictures with me. We had a great conversation about set lists and songs we would like to see them play in the future. Both guys were really great. They easily could have not come out but I’m so glad they did. I can only hope that the band stays healthy and continues to tour for as many years as possible. Thanks Don! I will always remember that night. By the way the show was great but that!s not really anything new, there always great!

  11. 11
    Igor Gillan-fan says:

    What a lovely gesture

  12. 12
    gareth says:

    Don your a great musician and a great person.A lot of people will benefit from Dons generosity.

  13. 13
    Mike Whiteley says:

    What a lovely,compassionate and utterly self-less gesture.
    Good on you,Don !!

  14. 14
    Les Hedger says:

    Truly a great person!

  15. 15
    Asbjørn Midtgård says:

    Fantastic Don!!!

  16. 16
    Kim Peters says:

    Now THAT is cool.

  17. 17
    Berhnard Lopez says:

    À écouter en premier

  18. 18
    Tom FitZ says:

    Great Stuff Don!!

  19. 19
    Jeff Summers says:

    Marvelous Cause!! Great work Don!!

  20. 20
    Eric Jordan says:

    Thank you Don!

  21. 21
    Michael says:

    Like it! 🙂

  22. 22
    yance says:

    A wonderful unselfish gesture. Great man , great musician. Respect to you Don.

  23. 23
    dave smith says:

    What is not mentioned is that is just a small fraction of the money that don has donated to various charities over the years through his annual (dependant on touring) Blues and soul event. Its only a small gig in a small village, but over the years Ian Paice, Graham Bonnet, Thunder, Neil Murray and many many more have played. This year over £21000 was raised for various causes

  24. 24
    oleg says:

    Artist and Gentelman!

  25. 25
    Tommy H. says:

    Wow, that’s great :-)!

  26. 26
    J. Mullen says:

    What a nice classy gesture from this up and coming young keyboard player. More power to you Don!

  27. 27
    MrPthe DPfan says:

    Yes , money like that can really make difference in some families life at a very difficult time . GOOD FOR YOU DON !

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