LadBaby: Co Derry woman’s ‘phenomenal’ Christmas song experience

A CO Derry woman has said taking part in a music video with Christmas sensation LadBaby was phenomenal.

YouTube stars Mark and Roxanne Hoyle have raised money for the Trussell Trust food bank charity with their sausage roll-themed singles since 2018.

The Nottinghamshire couple have had festive number ones since then and have two Christmas singles out this year.

One features Elton John and Ed Sheeran and the other volunteers from Trussell Trust foodbanks across the UK.

One of them was former Maghera nurse Donna Kennedy.

While she now helps out at a Trussell Trust food bank in Magherafelt, Donna has had personal experience of using the banks after having to leave her job due to ill health.

“I was a nursing auxiliary for 10 years with the Northern Trust and, unfortunately, I had too many strokes that took me out of work,” she told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme.

“I was bank staff which meant that you weren’t eligible for any sick pay, so I found the struggle really, really hard.

“We were struggling, we had a daughter putting herself through university to be a nurse herself.”

She said she saw that a range of people were using food banks.

“It doesn’t have to be just people on the benefit line, it can be anybody through [loss of] a job and like myself through sickness,” she said.

“I’m a support worker in the Trussell Trust food bank and I see it, quite a lot of people’s struggles and it is hard-hitting.”

Donna said she and her son Ronan both got the chance to take part in the LadBaby’s Christmas video when she told the trust how much of a fan she was.

“We just jumped at the chance, it was absolutely amazing to meet both Rox and Mark,” she said.

“The day was just phenomenal.”

LadBaby’s Mark Hoyle said that while they aim to make people laugh with their Christmas servings, raising money for an important cause was key.

“From our point of view, obviously, we try to make our songs silly and we try to make people smile at Christmas, because I think that’s what people need,” he told Good Morning Ulster.

“But I think it’s remembering that there are a lot of people in the UK that do need support.

“We know from our work with the foodbanks – there’s currently 14 million people in the UK that are living below the poverty line, four-and-a-half million of them are children.

“So we bring out these songs to try and make people smile, but to try and get people downloading the song and raising money for an incredible reason.”

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