WATCH: Shetland musician pens tribute to NHS as fundraising total surpasses £8,000
Andrew Hirst
An accordionist’s daily musical offering to help beat the lockdown blues have raised more than £8,000 for the NHS.
Peter Wood, 50, started uploading videos of his performances to Facebook in March as a way to lift folk’s spirits amid the Covid-19 crisis.
After the “Tunes in the Hoose” videos grew in popularity, with people tuning in from all over the world, Mr Wood and his wife Karen decided to add a fundraising element.
Initially, the Hoswick couple set themselves a target to raise £500 for the NHS Shetland Endowment Fund – but that was quickly surpassed.
More than £8,000 was donated to the JustGiving page in just a fortnight – with more still coming in.
“I think it’s absolutely amazing and very humbling that so much money has been donated,” Mr Wood said
“ I can’t believe the kindness and generosity of people.”
Mr Wood said the donations, which came from listeners tuning in from as far away as Holland and Australia, showed how much respect folk had for health workers, particularly during the Covid-19 crisis.
“In a small community like Shetland, folk really need the NHS, either for ourselves or for someone close to us,” he said.
“It’s such a fantastic service and we just want to say thanks.”
Mr Wood hopes the donations can provide tablet computers in wards at the Gilbert Bain Hospital so patients can talk to their family virtually during lockdown.
Since the start of the lockdown. Mr Wood, who is also a school accordion instructor, has uploaded around 100 videos.
The videos are mainly traditional folk songs, but also include offerings for the bairns such as a Jungle Book medley.
One of his latest pieces, uploaded on Sunday, was a tune he composed as a “personal tribute to NHS Shetland and all you folks that have donated so generously”.
The video has been viewed thousands of times and met with hundreds of appreciative comments.
Mr Wood, who has a six-year-old daughter called Grace and four-year-old son called Angus, said it was “great that so many folk are listening to the music”.
Some of his most popular videos have been viewed more than 16,000 times.
Mr Wood has also been part of a collaborative musical project, also called Tunes in the Hoose.
As previously reported, one of Mr Wood’s musicians friends, Martin Macleod was impressed with the his daily videos and suggested getting other performers involved.
Mr Macleod recruited his film producer son, also called Martin, to use his technical skills so that up to a dozen musicians could collaborate on tunes.
Those videos have also been shared thousands of times.
However, Mr Wood’s latest fundraising project featured only solo performances that he had recorded.
To donate search for “Just Giving Weʼre raising £500 to help NHS Shetland”.
