GOSH Frontage given powerful send-off ahead of Children's Cancer Centre build
8 Dec 2023, 12:27 p.m.
Earlier this week, over 100 singers from a variety of choirs in and around the local area came together to give a heart-warming farewell to Great Ormond Street Hospital’s Frontage Building on Great Ormond Street. This is ahead of works starting on the new Children’s Cancer Centre at GOSH in the New Year.
The singers came from three Camden Primary schools, the Guardian’s Staff Choir, King’s Place Choir and the GOSH and University College London Hospital choir.
They performed an original composition by composer and conductor Naomi Hammerton. It was specially commissioned by GOSH Arts and developed with input from staff and local people.
With lyrics designed to inspire, the piece spoke about strong foundations, the connection between GOSH patients, staff, families and the local community, and looking ahead to a brighter future.
Composer and conductor Naomi Hammerton pictured at the event.
The close of one chapter and the start of a new one
Taking place on Great Ormond Street, the special performance marked the close of one chapter and the start of a new one. Works are due to start on the construction of the new Children’s Cancer Centre at GOSH in 2024.
The song went through the different seasons, giving people the chance to reflect on all the incredible things that the Frontage Building has enabled and what the Children’s Cancer Centre and its new main entrance will bring.
The Frontage Building at GOSH has a 70-year history, with the current main entrance of the hospital having been in place since the 1990s.
Every day, around 750 children from across the UK come through its doors as they are seen at the hospital for life-changing treatment and care.
A new front entrance and welcoming reception area is at the heart of the plans to replace the old Frontage Building at GOSH and create a world-leading new Children’s Cancer Centre, to help drive transformation in children’s cancer care and save more lives.
The design of this new space has been developed with children and young people and aims to be a playful, welcoming and calm space.
Our Build it. Beat it. appeal
The construction works for the new Children’s Cancer Centre at GOSH are due to start in 2024, and this wouldn’t be possible without the funding from GOSH Charity.
The Build it. Beat it. appeal is the largest and most ambitious fundraising appeal in our history, aiming to raise around £300million to make this vision a reality and help beat childhood cancer once and for all.