Policemen and women from across Hampshire joined forces with a Portsmouth-based choir at a special concert to raise money for The Rocky Appeal.
 
At the sell-out event in March the Band of the Hampshire Constabulary stood beside the Milton Glee Club Choir and raised £2,500 that will go towards advanced medical equipment at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth.

Chief Constable Alex Marshall, of Hampshire Police, along with representatives from the band and choir met with Mick Lyons, the co-ordinator of the Appeal, on Wednesday 3rd June to hand over the cheque.

Mick said: “It was a truly wonderful concert which had a great response – we even had to turn people away.

“It was so popular we are doing another, bigger, event at the Portsmouth Guildhall next year.

“It is brilliant that both Hampshire Constabulary and the Milton Glee Club Choir have chosen to support us.”
 
The Rocky Appeal is hoping to raise £3 million for state-of-the-art Digital Keyhole Operating Theatres.

The four new theatres will allow Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust to provide the best for its patients into the 21st century. 

They will also improve the training of surgeons and theatre staff in Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery in Portsmouth.

The Appeal has raised more than half a million pounds for the theatres so far and Mick hopes the first theatre operational by the end of the year.

David Basson, Chairman of the Band of the Hampshire Constabulary, was thrilled the band could raise money for the Appeal.

“I know the hospital well so we are delighted to support the Appeal,” he said. “It is a tremendous cause and we are happy to do anything we can to help.”

Trust chairman, David Rhind, praised the Appeal for its continuing effort to improve patient care.

He said: “We are very ambitious with the services that we want to provide here in Portsmouth, but you need help along the way.

“This Appeal and the event in March makes a major contribution to the hospital and to the welfare of the people in Portsmouth and surrounding areas.”

For more information about the Rocky Appeal visit www.porthosp.nhs.uk/rocky-appeal.

For more details about the Band of the Hampshire Constabulary visit www.hampshirepoliceband.co.uk and for the Milton Glee Club Choir visit www.miltongleeclub.org.