Hand Aid 3 Concert

At the Union Church the Hunstanton Concert Band held a concert to raise money for Becky's Hand, this was music from The Musicals.

Mamma Mia  2008
Baby Elephant Walk  1962 from Hatari
As time goes by  1942 from Casablanca
A string of pearls 1954 from The Glen Miller Story
Harry Potter and the order of the Pheonix 2001
Those Magnificent men in the flying machine 1965
Themes from 007 1962
Hen Wlad fy Nhadau 1940 from The Proud Valley
Old man river 1927 from Showboat

Interval with lovely homemade cakes

Cats 1962
Any dream will do from 1982 from Joseph
Summertime 1935 from Porgy and Bess
Les Miserables 1987
Colonel Bogey 1987 from Bridge over the River Kwai
West Side Story 1961
The Great Escape 1963
Thats Entertainment 1974

Encore of Oh we do like to be beside the seaside

It was a lovely pleasant evening

An i-limb Hand for Becky
The story behind the fund-raising

Becky Palmer has been principal trombone of Hunstanton Concert Band since she joined us in 2007.

Becky has never let the fact that she was born without a right hand stop her doing what she wanted. Using the basic National Health supplied hands, which have one simple gripping action, she plays trombone, piano, guitar and trumpet and is a keen and competitive tennis and squash player.

She was principal trombone of the National Schools Symphony Orchestra for two years and, whilst at the University of Reading, conducted the University Concert Band.

Last year she captained the winning Ladies City League Division 3 tennis team, won the Glebe House tennis tournament and was in the winning team of the Castle Acre Mixed League.

Becky is a Primary School Teacher specialising in music and also teaches music privately. She also works at Corders Budgens in Fakenham.


One of the hands she uses is operated by pulling a cord with the left hand and the other, which is electrically powered, frequently breaks down. Both are heavy, unwieldy and unsightly.

The i-limb Hand, at a basic cost of £9,000 but rising to £30,000 with 'options'and user training, has individual movement of all four fingers and the thumb together with a rotating wrist, all electronically controlled by the muscles of the forearm. This would give Becky far more control of her trombone slide, allow her to play the piano far more naturally - and looks wonderfully natural and realistic.

Also, Becky says, it would allow her to use a knife and fork to eat - at present, when eating out, she has to select very carefully from the menu. Another plus would be that she would have more control when walking her dog!

On Wednesday, 11th March, 2009 a joint lecture given by The Royal Society of Edinburgh and The Royal Academy of Engineering examined in some depth Touch Bionics, the company that manufactures i-Limb, and the way its products can transform the lives of those have the chance to use them.

Any excess funds raised by this appeal will be donated to the registered charity, The Limbless Assocation