By Sarah Johnson
 THE Sick Children’s Hospital Appeal is going on tour — and internationally acclaimed country singer Isla Grant wants her fans to be our supporting act.
 When Isla read about our appeal aboard a ferry travelling back from Ireland she found what she’d been looking for.
Isla explained, “I’ve wanted to get involved with a children’s charity for a while, and always said I’d know
the right one when it came along.
“I’d just finished a tour of Ireland and we were on the ferry home when I spotted the Sick Children’s Appeal in The Sunday Post and said to my husband, Al, that I wanted to get involved.
“Being in hospital is such a scary time for children, it’s like being taken to a whole new world. I’ll do whatever I can to help.”
Isla, who has two grandchildren Rachel (7) and Christopher (5), knows how scary being in hospital can be.
Sixteen years ago Isla and Al, from Duns, were involved in a near fatal car accident when Al’s car was hit head-on
by another vehicle travelling in excess of 100 mph.
Isla suffered severe internal injuries when her stomach burst and
a broken wrist, while Al escaped with a dislocated foot.
Guitar
She laughed, “I remember being more worried about my broken wrist. I kept telling the doctors they needed to fix that first, not my stomach, because I had to be able to play guitar!”
Thanks to expert care Isla survived, although
no-one could have prepared her for the long-term impact on her life.
She struggled to leave her house, was diagnosed as agoraphobic and could hardly play the guitar without crying.
Eighteen months after the accident doctors told her she’d probably never sing again let alone perform in public.
Isla was devastated. Music had always been in her blood. Her father was a piper, her mother a singer and both her grandfathers were fiddlers.
By the time she was 14 she was performing in folk clubs in Glasgow and Edinburgh, supporting acts like Billy Connolly, The Dubliners and
The Fureys.
She recalled, “After the accident my world fell apart.
“I couldn’t listen to music on the radio because it brought
back too many painful memories.
“I had great support from my family and friends but I knew
the only person who could really help me was me.”
After five years, one morning she began to sing again. “I’d had plenty of time to write and many songs came to me because of
the accident. I had to write my feelings down — I couldn’t talk about them but I was able to
put them down on paper.”
Confidence
As her confidence grew she began recording her songs and decided to contact a Glasgow record dealer who contracted her for two albums.
In 1998 one of her songs, Mother, was played on Irish
radio — and the rest, as they say, is history.
She has gone on to collect triple platinum and gold discs and undertaken tours across the world, including Australia where she’s performed 118 times. She’s even outsold Westlife and U2 in the Irish music charts!
She’s performed with her close friend Daniel O’Donnell, toured with Foster & Allen and has just released her ninth album,
Down Memory Lane.
Isla firmly believes it was her love of music that gave her the strength to get better — and
she now hopes her music can help children across Scotland.
Next month Isla will begin a tour of the UK before travelling to New Zealand. Later in the year she tours Ireland and in May 2009 she’s back
in Australia.
And she’s promised to take our appeal with her every step of the way.
She explained, “What I like about this appeal is
it helps children from across Scotland, not just in one part of the country.
Stressful
“Since my accident I can relate better to people who are going through stressful times
and if I can help, I will.
“I want to take the appeal all over the world with me and talk about it. I have very loyal fans, aged from 18 to 104, and there are many Scots
in New Zealand and Australia, so I’m hoping they’ll be able to help the children back home.”
Isla has been thinking of the best way to get her fans to donate money. One idea is to leave collection buckets by her merchandise stand
— in the hope that when someone buys a programme or CD the change will go straight in the bucket and
not in their pocket.
She continues, “Daniel (O’Donnell) built an orphanage in Romania with money raised on his tours. I hope to help in a similar way by asking my fans to contribute to your appeal.
“One of my songs, Life’s Storybook Cover says, ‘This life is
a stage and we all must play our part’ — that’s exactly what I’m
going to do.”
 For full list of tour dates visit
www.artists.rosetterecords.co.uk/isla
IF YOU have a special reason for contributing to or raising funds
for our appeal then we’d like to hear from you. It could be that you’d like to thank caring staff for the treatment they’ve provided in your hour of need.
Or perhaps a relative spent time in one of Scotland’s children’s hospitals and the experience has left a lasting impression
on your family’s life.
Whatever the reason, please let us know.
We’d be delighted to share your experiences with our readers.
And, who knows, it may inspire others to follow in your
fundraising footsteps.
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