Four local charities stand to benefit from a brand new song created by local people and released yesterday. 

It’s hoped The Days That Never Came featuring the haunting voice of Katie Wren will raise much need cash for The Sara Lee Trust, Barby Keel Animal Sanctuary, Warming Up The Homeless and Bexhill Foodbank.

The project’s creators say the video that accompanies the song is a, “…visual representation of local people and places in lockdown.” The images were all donated in response to a Facebook appeal.

The song’s writer Joe Gallastegui explains the inspiration behind The Days That Never Came, he says: “Suddenly, out of the blue, as if in some strange film, everything changed. All those things we had planned to do, parties, weddings, walks, working, school – they all had to be put on hold. Everything stopped, almost in one day.

“There we were, all those plans for days that would not now happen. But we had to live through these days, in a different and unforeseen way. We all learned to do new things; make rainbows, Zoom quizzes, home schooling and working remotely. We came together as a community, clapping for carers, making scrubs and masks and helping our neighbours.

“In the saddest of situations, a beauty can arise, a new way of looking at the world. The song was a response to the times we found ourselves in and with the help and support of a group of friends who had IT, social media and production skills – and bags of enthusiasm – the idea became a reality.”

Joe says explains that an appeal went out inviting people to send in images of ‘their’ lockdown and how they were dealing with it: “We have been overwhelmed by the response. It’s about people coming together, helping each other, it’s about community and specifically ‘our community’.”

Joe and those working on the project recognised that local charities, “are part of the glue that helps keep our community together” and they wanted to do what they could to help.

“That led us on to the Hashtag idea; charities up and down the country are struggling to raise funds. The Days That Never Came is our vision to raise money for some of our local charities.

“This is our song, and this is our version but #whatsyourversion?”

So Joe is inviting anyone, anywhere to do their own version of the song as long as it is to benefit a registered charity. He hopes there might be reggae, jazz, hip hop or a choral interpretation of The Days That Never Came.

“Make your own version and help raise money in your community for your local charity, with your own local version,” says Joe.

You can visit the websites of the charities the song is hoping to support by clicking on the links below. 

The Sara Lee Trust Warming up the Homeless Barby Keel Animal Sanctuary Bexhill Foodbank 

Full lyrics to The Days That Never Came

Softly fall the silent tears
Of heavens darkest reign
As we surrender up our dreams to
The days that never came
The door is slowly closing
To a world now left behind
Images fast fading
Dissolving in our minds
Nothing now is fixed for
So much more can change
It’s hard to see tomorrow from
The day’s that never came

So we sing the songs of old
Somehow all seems strange
All the plans we ever made for
The days that never came

We talk of what we were
Of all that used to be
Before we crossed that unseen line to
This broken symmetry
Horizons almost lost
It’s hard to find our way
The darkness hangs so close now
Till there is nothing left to say
Words are lost to silence
Accept for those who quietly pray
The places that we came from
Now seem so far away
Different shapes are forming
On the shadows that we cast
How quick we are stripped away
Our illusions of the passed
Were the riches we amassed
All gathered up in vain
I would surrender all I have
Just to touch your face again

So I sing my song to you
In sweet but sad refrain
Of all that we were meant to be in
The days that never came

Now the night is falling
The sun slips slow away
We wonder if we’ll ever see
The days that never came
But there is a light still shining
Back from whence we came
That carries forth our hopes and dreams for
The days that still remain
In some new tomorrow
Beyond the sadness and the pain
On the other side of sorrow
We shall arise again

So we sing the songs of old
For nothing now seems strange
Innocence lost to the legends of
The days that never came

Out there- a world is waiting
On a moment still to come
When distance lies defeated
This silent war is won
Soon it will be over and
We shall meet again
Then we’ll sit and talk tell our stories of
The days that never came
Yes we’ll sing our songs of old
In sweet but sad refrain
Loves lost the story of
The days that never came
So we sing our song for all till
We shall meet again
Of times lost to the story of
The days that never came.