'Absent Friends' - A Christmas Song for charity, by Jo Bell

Hi. My name is Jo Bell and I'm a writer, radio presenter, and multi-disciplinary artist originally from Colchester, Essex, in the UK, but now living in Co. Waterford, Ireland.

This Christmas, I will be releasing a song: a single called 'Absent Friends' to raise money for three charities that are close to my heart. One is a charity established in memory of a late schoolfriend of mine, which is based in West Mersea in Essex. I have also chosen two charities that are based in my two homes - one in my home place of Colchester and Tendring, Essex in the UK, and the other in West Waterford, where I live now. To that end, all profits raised through sales of the song, before 1st March 2025, or through donations, will be shared between these charities.

You can download the song for €2 , or purchase a CD for €5 , which also features a bonus track: a live recording of my song 'When The Knockmealdowns Thaw' from my website : jobellwriter.com .

The song is a very family oriented song, which tells the story of Christmas when I was a child, surrounded by family, and the excitement of my grandparents arriving on Christmas Day to celebrate with us. It then talks about how tough it was in the first Christmas after they died, before travelling on to the present day, where the next generation has been born, the story has come full circle, and they are enjoying the same magic of being with family at Christmas.

'Absent Friends' features backing vocals from members of my own family, and plenty of Christmas imagery.

The first is The Catherine Bullen Foundation. Please click the link to find out more about the Foundation. Catherine Bullen was a schoolfriend of mine, who died while on safari in Namibia in 2002. She was on the path to becoming a great doctor but her life was cut tragically short, when she contracted gastro enteritis. Her wonderful parents Linda and Roger Bullen established the foundation in her memory and have, since then, worked tirelessly to raise funds to improve the lives of people living in poverty in Namibia. When I first wrote 'Absent Friends', Catherine immediately came to mind.

The second charity is Dungarvan Community First Responders in West Waterford. The Dungarvan First Responder Programme trains members of the public to effectively use the defibrillator units and to respond to medical emergencies where a defibrillator or basic life-saving skill might be required. In the first year since they were established in Dungarvan, they have attended hundreds of calls and contributed to saving many lives, keeping families together.

The third charity is the Youth Enquiry Service YES . They provide a number of services to support young people in the Colchester and Tendring areas of Essex in the UK. The funds will be put towards their youth counselling service. When my grandfather died suddenly, when I was 16, it had a profound impact on me and due to a lack of access to counselling back in the 1990s, it took me decades to begin to recover from that. I am delighted that services such as YES exist for young people now, and I hope that the song will enable some young people to receive that help and support.