With a career as an RAF engineer, and a vast vinyl collection comprising Vera Lynn to the Sex Pistols, John Leigh may have been an unconventional father but he left behind some unforgettable memories for his daughters.

In this episode, Sioux Hill brings her dad’s memory to life through music, a passion they shared from her childhood days through to adulthood.

Sioux walks us through their special relationship, the hardship she suffered losing her dad to Covid 19, and the subsequent surreality of his loss, with Downing Street throwing two parties on the one-year anniversary of her dad’s passing on the 16th of April 2021.

Compassionate like her father, Sioux’s happy place is the National Covid Memorial Wall where she was among the first Covid bereaved to paint thousands of hearts in the 10 days after the public mural was started on 29 March 2021. Sioux spends Father’s day and her dad’s birthdays at the wall as well as carrying out requests for people who want their loved ones remembered on the wall.

When she isn’t caring for four children with disabilities, Sioux finds her well-being in music while summoning the energy for activism, also campaigning for the Names Not Numbers group.

Music credits:

'An Honest Mistake' - The Bravery.

Rupert The Bear theme song, written by Len Beadle (also known as Frank Weston) and Ron Roker. Song recorded by Jackie Lee Music.

Created, produced, and hosted by Karen Rice, the Stolen Goodbyes podcast won gold in the fiercely competitive Best Lockdown category of the British Podcast Award 2021.

Stolen Goodbyes is described as: "outstanding ethical and trauma-informed journalism. Karen Rice manages to capture a historic event in real-time by listening with empathy. Future generations will listen to this podcast and know what it felt like to live through this pandemic." Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma.

Please listen to, review, and share this podcast with your network, it really helps!

If you would like to make a donation (no matter how small) to the running costs of this passion project, please visit: https://karen-rice.com/podcast/ or http://bit.ly/3kMSKLg

You can follow Karen on Twitter @Ricekmc and Stolen Goodbyes on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3ITXSFC Facebook: https://bit.ly/3kGGwnG and Youtube: http://bit.ly/3Yq0jW5

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/stolen-goodbyes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.