A COVENTRY band is looking to use the power of music to thank NHS staff who saved the life of their beloved and inspirational leader Margery Jones.
The Notables Band is a supergroup for musicians and singers of all ages with special needs and meets on Wednesdays at Canley Community Centre between 7pm and 9pm.
The band performs live music, conducts outreach work in schools and helps people with their mental health.
Margery, 91, has been very ill and went into hospital on Boxing Day.
On January 10 her family were advised to place her on end-of-life care.
But the round-the-clock care from the devoted staff at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) has helped Margery make a remarkable recovery and she is now out of intensive care and back on a ward.
Lifelong social justice fighter Margery founded Coventry Against Racism and in 2016 was awarded the Jimmy Hill Most Inspirational Person Prize at the Pride of Coventry Awards.
The Notables’ musical director and project manager Dave Claridge met her in 1997 when working with a group of learning-disabled adults at Tile Hill College, including Margery’s son Lewis.
It was Margery who suggested the trio start the band.
Dave said: “Margery is one of the funniest ladies I know and an absolute inspiration to everyone who meets her.
“When she became ill we all visited her as much as we could, and when the medical team told us the kindest thing to do would be to put her on end-of-life care it was devastating for us all.
“The NHS staff were nothing short of incredible – they were accommodating to all of Margery’s colourful friends and nursed her back to health and she is starting to get back to her old self.”
The Notables will now donate the sales proceeds from their album ‘2021’ to the UHCW and plans to sell it on CD on Margery’s ward.
They are also fund-raising at an upcoming autism awareness event on April 1.
The album predominantly features original material and songs by band member Darren Robbins, who passed away in 2021, founder member James Swanson, who died in 2001, and a poem by Margery.
Dave added: “Margery has fought tooth and nail for social justice all her life and would be right there on that picket line if she could, she knows how incredible the NHS is, so we want to say thank you in our own way.”
Visit uhcwcharity.org/ways-to-pay-in-your-donation/ to donate to UHCW and notables.org.uk/ to buy a copy of 2021.
