84-Year-Old Has Played Accordion at Macclesfield Hospital 35 Years

John Jones, 84, has spent 35 years playing the accordion for patients and visitors at Macclesfield District General Hospital. The retired engineer is a volunteer, and his music has also brought in money for East Cheshire NHS Charity.

He first heard the instrument as a child, watching his father play it. "My dad played the accordion all the time and I could play the piano a little bit," he said. After his father died, he started "messing around" with the accordion. "One half is like a piano, but the other half is completely different with buttons," he said. "I had to teach myself, but I really enjoyed it."

His volunteering began in 1991. He was at the hospital with his mother-in-law when he saw an appeal for a CT scanner. Since then he has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the charity, and he holds an MBE for services to charity.

Using the scanner he paid for

One moment stays with him. About five years after helping to raise the money for the scanner, he needed a CT scan himself. "The nurse said, 'That's ironic, you're using the scanner you helped pay for.' That really stayed with me," he said.

The money has also paid for a family room at the hospital's intensive care unit. That is where his wife June died from sepsis in 2020. She had been in intensive care with sepsis five years earlier and survived. He asked to collect specifically for the unit. "Which is very close to my heart really because my youngest daughter is matron in intensive care in Australia," he said. He added that he knows the staff personally after all this time.

John also performs in care homes.

Zara Jones, chief executive at East Cheshire NHS Trust, said: "It's a privilege having so many people who are willing to give up their time to work here." She said many volunteers have their own stories about care they or their families received at the hospital. "It means a lot to them personally and we're really keen to support them," she said.

Source: BBC News