Just one smile can make Sharleen's day

by Craig Robertson from The Sunday Post - August 30th, 2001


SHARLEEN SPITERI is one of the biggest superstars in pop, travelling the world with chart-topping band Texas.

But when she visits Rachel House it’s not as a celebrity or a pop pin-up. She’s there as a friend of the hospice and a pal to all the children who are there.
Sharleen goes to Rachel House whenever she’s back in Scotland. Occasionally there are press cameras around to help boost the hospice’s profile but more often than not she turns up unannounced and it’s just her, the kids and their parents.
She talks and she listens. She drinks tea and scoffs any scones or cakes she can lay her hands on. She laughs a lot and so do the people around her.
Sharleen has been involved with Scotland’s only children’s hospice since shortly after it opened in Kinross in 1996. She came to present a cheque on behalf of T in the Park and has been involved ever since.
“They called me in, I said yes right away and have been involved ever since. Simple as that,” she explains.

Hectic

Sharleen is backing The Sunday Post Schools Hospice Challenge.
She took time off from her hectic recording and touring schedule to tell us why Rachel House has become such a big part of her life.
“This place is very real — lots of things in my life aren’t,” she says. “I’m lucky in what I do for a living but it’s hardly a real job. This place gives me that.
“I have loads of nephews and nieces and that helps bring home what goes on at Rachel House. I took my 12-year-old niece Lauren to the hospice, telling her she would see what real life was all about. “She came away saying to me, ‘I’m so lucky, aren’t I?’ I said, ‘Yes, you blooming are!’ ”
When she visits, Sharleen doesn’t stand on ceremony with the children — and they are the same with her. Sometimes with a vengeance.
Watching eight-year-old Gemma Obyrne from Paisley hurling hard plastic toys within an inch of her face, you have to wonder how many stars would stand for that kind of thing.
It was just a few hours before Sharleen was due to go on stage but she just laughed and dared Gemma to throw them harder, barely ducking out of the way each time.
Others settle for hurling jokes and insults that no self-respecting singing superstar should have to put up with.
“I love the honesty of the children. They tell me the truth. And they give me a whole load of cheek and sarcasm too!
“Lots of the kids are very shy but I just annoy them enough until they talk to me. Others are too sick even to take any notice.
“Some like it when I turn up because I’m ‘famous’ and they can tell their pals. Some have no idea who I am and that’s fine by me. If I can spend some time making someone smile then that’s enough.” Of course, it’s not always a fun visit.
“I was in Rachel House recently talking to a family whose wee boy had died just days before. “The family were still in the house so they could have time to grieve without any added pressures. What could I say? What words could offer anything to them?
“I come at different times and so do the kids so I don’t necessarily see the same ones. But I’ve come to know some of them very well over the years.
“Of course, some of those I have been close to have since died.”
Another famous visitor is Ewan McGregor, a good pal of Sharleen’s.

Competition

“We’re going together soon and we’ll have a cooking competition. The last time Ewan was there he cooked breakfast and the kids said it was rotten. They reckoned you could have bounced the eggs off the walls.
“So this time, I’m in charge and he’ll be my assistant!”
Sharleen is quick to play down her role in the life of the hospice although staff are even quicker to praise what she’s done.
“I don’t think what I do at the house is hard at all,” explains Sharleen. “There are so many people who put in massive hours, both staff and volunteers. I don’t do much compared to them.”
Regarding The Sunday Post Schools Hospice Challenge, she says, “If I had a message for school pupils — and their mums and dads, uncles, aunts and grandparents — as to why they should raise money for the new hospice it would be simply, ‘Look at this place, look at what we do’.
“The kids here need so much help and you can give it. We are only looking for a pound a head from every pupil.
“Put it this way, you can spend a quid on a packet of stickers or give it to Rachel House. Give it to us and it will make a difference.”


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