THE Brighter Futures team are still feeling the Christmas spirit almost four months after the festive period as a Christmas single has managed to pull in more than £800 for the charity.

Earlier this week, musical maestros Alan Holmes, owner of Holmes Music in Faringdon Road, and GWH cardiologist Bill McCrea handed over a cheque for £870 to representatives from Brighter Futures.

Over Christmas, Alan and Bill teamed up to release a Christmas single to help bring radiotherapy to Swindon.

The song, Yahweh Christmas Cheer, was written and performed by 61-year-old Bill and recorded at the hospital by Alan and his small band of technicians.

Alan said: “I’m really pleased that we managed to raise £870 for Brighter Futures. It’s a really good total and Bill and I had a lot of fun putting the song together.”

There are still a few copies of the CD left and they can be bought from Alan’s shop in Faringdon Road.

The idea first came about when Alan, who suffers with a heart condition, visited Bill, his cardiologist, at the hospital. Bill said he wanted to record a charity single and Alan kindly offered his services as music man.

Alan said: “We turned one of the rooms in the hospital into a recording studio – there were a lot of microphones and mixing desks.

“It’s a brilliant CD, it turned out really well – especially as it was a first attempt. It was really good fun and a bit of a challenge, but it all came together in the end.”

Musical medic Bill said: “I wanted people to focus on the true meaning of Christmas which is giving love and being together, especially with the children because the magic of Christmas is for children.”

Speaking about his support for Brighter Futures, Alan said: “We want to see this radiotherapy centre in Swindon as soon as possible and it’s great to be able to support Bill.”

Asked about whether the pair would do something similar next Christmas, Alan hinted that something might be in the pipeline, though he couldn’t say exactly what.

So far £1,500,000 has been raised for Brighter Futures. The team is very grateful for every single donation and wish to thank everyone for their support. To donate you can send cut out and send in the attached.