Multi-award-winning fundraiser Dante Valaydon-Pillay has completed a whole year of ambitious charity challenges for Children in Need with a special performance at Southmead Hospital, Bristol.
Since October 2023 he has climbed and abseiled 210ft up and down the Clifton Gorge in Bristol, run a the 5k Newport Park Run, and December last year saw him bring some Christmas cheer to the elderly residents of Penpegwm House in Abergavenny by baking them 50 individual Christmas cakes and entertaining them with a selection of carols.
In January 2024 he volunteered at Newport Foodbank, sorting, packing and distributing food parcels and then, in February, he created three art photographs on the theme of ‘reflection’, helped frame them with a professional framer in Monmouth and then auctioned them on eBay. In March he sang the Welsh National Anthem at Rodney Parade, Newport, during the Rugby Championships to a spellbound crowd of 5,000 and then auctioned two signed shirts donated by The Dragons and The Bulls rugby squads. He followed this in April by cycling 25 miles back and forth over the Severn Bridge and in May he climbed three South Wales peaks in one weekend, followed the next month by Paragliding off Bwlch Mountain, Nant Y Moel.
Just one week after the start of his summer holidays this year he canoed 20 miles down the River Wye, and for the whole of August he camped in his tent, persevering through extremes of temperature.
To top off his year of charity challenges he has set himself the task of giving a solo piano and singing performance. He spent the whole of his summer holidays preparing and practicing his seven songs.
He said: “I wanted to give a musical performance for my final 12th challenge, but I didn’t know if I had enough time. Luckily, I managed to get it all done.”
At the end of August, after six weeks of dedicated practice, he gave a week-long set of performances around his local area in preparation for his special performance at Southmead Hospital, Bristol, which would be his final 12th charity challenge. During the week he raised almost £450 towards his Children in Need fund, but he wanted any money raised during his performance to go directly to Southmead Hospital Charity, the official charity of North Bristol NHS Trust.
On Monday, September 2, he headed over to the state-of-the-art Brunel Building to perform his set on the baby grand piano located in the atrium. The piano was set up by the hospital’s Fresh Arts team, who use creative arts as a means of relaxation and well-being for patients visiting the hospital.
Dante entertained visitors waiting in the spectacular glass auditorium with his lively series of songs on the Steck Boudoir piano. His first song was ‘I Can’t Stop the Feeling’ by Justin Timberlake. Within minutes people were showing their appreciation by donating their spare change and notes into the fundraising bucket. His set included Louis Armstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful Day’, Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida’, a classical piece called ‘Sad Ghost’ by Nancy Litten followed by the theme tune from the ‘Adams Family’. He then performed a special piece that he had created himself called ‘Challenge into Change’ which was inspired by his fundraising journey. He finished his series of songs with the aptly named ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ by Queen.
People responded to his performance with an array of positive comments ranging from, “The music sounds great in the space.” to “I stopped to donate because he reminds me of my sons. I wish him lots of luck with his fundraising.”
Many people watched and some were visibly emotional seeing a young performer fundraising. During the performance, many people took videos and photos, and after each song, there was lots of applause. Staff came out of their rooms onto the balconies and looked down with smiles on their faces. The sounds echoed around the space and spread joy and happiness to all.
Laura Tanner, music programme manager at Fresh Arts, said: “it was an enormous pleasure having Dante at Southmead Hospital as a guest performer for the 12th of his ‘charity challenges’ on Monday. Live music makes such a difference to the hospital community, and he brought a smile to so many faces. Lots of people were inspired to donate and support supporting the work of Southmead Hospital Charity, which will help make it possible for us to bring the joy of live music to even more people in our care. We are all so grateful to Dante and his family for their support. Hopefully, he might like to come back and perform for us again.”
At the end of his final performance, Dante said: “I hope that my performance put a smile on people’s faces and made their day a bit better. I am so honoured that Fresh Arts invited me to perform and that it raises awareness and funds for Southmead Hospital Charity. I hope everyone enjoyed my set and the song I created, ‘Challenge into Change’, because I wrote this especially for my Southmead performance.
He added; “I’ve had an amazing 12 months doing all sorts of challenges. It’s been exciting and I’ve tried things that I’ve always wanted to do. I hope that by doing these charity challenges I can raise money for Children in Need. Every penny counts. Thank you to all of the nice people who donated their time, expertise, and money to help me complete my charity challenges. Their support helps me raise money and awareness for Children in Need.”