The evening of music and words was hosted by BBC Radio presenter Nick Robinson and marked the 40th anniversary of the National Brain Appeal.
It raised almost £5000 for the charity, which is dedicated to supporting The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and the UCL Institute of Neurology in Bloomsbury.
BBC Radio 4 Presenter Nick Robinson hosted the service which was joined by charity chair Jackie Ashley and CEO Claire Wood. (Image: Marie Mangan)
The congregation gathered at the Holy Sepulchre Church in the City of London on December 5.
Camden-based actor and writer, Stephen Mangan, is a long-standing supporter of the charity having lost two close relatives to brain cancer. One of his first TV roles was playing Adrian Mole in the TV adaptation of Sue Townsend’s The Cappuccino Years – a character he revisited for his reading.
His Green Wing co-star Tamsin Greig, known for Friday Night Dinner, Episodes and Black Books, has supported the Brain Appeal for many years and had guests in stitches with her reading of The Twelve Days of Christmas: A Correspondence, by John Julius Norwich.
Olivier award-winner Indira Varma, who is about to star in Oedipus at the Old Vic opposite Rami Malek, has just become an ambassador for The National Brain Appeal and read a moving extract from Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín.
Radio X DJ and music journalist, Elspeth Pierce has also recently become an ambassador for the charity and read an extract from Dr Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. She had a life-threatening brain haemorrhage when she was 23, resulting in multiple operations and extensive rehab at The National Hospital where she is still a patient.
Music was provided by The Julius Singers choir, pianists Richard Sissons, Stefanija Nikolich and National Hospital consultant neurologist and composer, Nick Losseff, violinist Sara Trickey, flautist Katy Birch and bassoonist Zoe Shevlin.
Claire Wood Hill, chief executive of The National Brain Appeal, said: “It was such a festive and uplifting evening, hosted with great warmth and professionalism by Nick Robinson.
“I am so grateful to all of our wonderful readers and musicians and to all of our supporters who came along and got into the Christmas spirit with us.”
