Sometimes, wonderful things come in twos.
So it was on consecutive days this August, when I was lucky enough to attend 30th anniversary events for two organisations that I respect hugely. One evening in the wood-lined modern elegance and superb acoustics of the Perth Concert Hall, I listened to a wonderful performance by the National Youth Choir of Scotland (NYCOS). The following morning I was in the stunning waterside setting of V&A Dundee, totally absorbed in an exhibition exploring the work of the Maggie’s Centres.
Both of these non-profit charitable organisations, founded and registered in Scotland, and now 30 years established, are dear to my heart. They are also linked together in my own personal experience. About a decade ago, my younger daughter, then age seven, joined the local NYCOS group in Dumfries and Galloway, and set in train a musical adventure that continues to this day. Around the same time I began to get involved with a group of people, eager to see a Maggie’s Centre established in our region. Through the intervening years I have witnessed and tried to support the remarkable work of these two organisations.
My reflections here are therefore a salute to the creative achievements of both Maggie’s and NYCOS, celebrating what they do, as they each mark 30 years of endeavour.
Maggie’s Centres offer support to people with cancer and those close to them. They work with the NHS and complement the care it provides with a range of services, no appointment needed, in beautifully designed buildings situated close to hospitals and associated cancer services. Here’s how Maggie’s describe the essence of their approach:
‘Our workshops, courses, one-to-one and group support help people change the way they live with cancer. Every Maggie’s Centre is a welcoming space where you can find support with money worries, tips on managing stress, and a friendly place to go when you need someone to listen. Our support is shown to improve physical and emotional wellbeing and to help people take control when cancer turns life upside down.’
When in the early 1990s, Maggie Keswick Jencks was given her cancer prognosis in a windowless room and then asked to move out into the busy hospital corridor to continue the conversation, she began to think about more gentle and supportive environments in which such discussions could take place. She brought together her skills and insights as a writer, gardener and designer and worked with Laura Lee, an experienced cancer nurse, and her husband Charles Jencks, an architectural theorist, on ideas for a new approach. One that would provide a beautiful location and a judicious mixture of calm, advice, shared experience and useful information for people affected by cancer, at any stage of the disease. Maggie Keswick Jencks died in 1995 and the first Maggie’s Centre was opened in Edinburgh the following year.
Since then, Centres have developed all across Scotland and the wider UK. There are currently 27 in operation, with 7 more in the pipeline. There are also Maggie’s Centres operating and planned in five countries outside the UK. Every one is a product of inspirational design. Globally recognised architects such as Frank Gehry, Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid have harnessed themselves to the Maggie’s vision, producing buildings that inspire, welcome and intrigue visitors, many of whom have newly received a diagnosis of cancer.
Many other services in different parts of the world also acknowledge the inspiration of the Maggie’s concept, such as Sachi House, a cancer support centre in Fuji City, Japan, that I visited in 2019 and which incorporates many elements of a Maggie’s Centre.
Despite this national and international recognition, working together with Maggie’s staff to gain agreement for a new centre in Dumfries required a surprising amount of patience, as we sought to persuade sometimes sceptical NHS managers and clinicians of the value and extra layer of support that could be added by Maggie’s to existing local cancer services. Fortunately, after a long and at times frustrating journey, in 2024 things suddenly changed. A new CEO of the health board, very soon after her appointment, announced that plans for a local Maggie’s Centre were to go ahead immediately, on the site of the Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, where a building plot would be provided. I’m pleased to say that the project planning process is now underway, an architectural/design team has been appointed, and a fundraising strategy for capital and revenue costs is beginning to unfold, working to Maggie’s tried and tested methods.
This summer was therefore an interesting time to visit the Dundee exhibition, with its quiet and reflective atmosphere, beautiful exhibits and storied content. I wandered through the display boards, rich in information, enjoyed the video recordings and reflections of people who come to Maggie’s Centres and marvelled at the architectural models and drawings on view. Five key themes were highlighted – welcome; beauty; home; nature; choice – representing the central features of a Maggie’s Centre in design, atmosphere and the affordances it creates as people with shared concerns interact in a place of beauty and inspiration.
It was also hugely gratifying to see Maggie’s Dumfries and Galloway on the list of forthcoming Centres!
NYCOS provides young people up to age 25 with opportunities for choral singing. It has 14 local branches around Scotland that meet each week and give summer and winter concerts. From here, there are pathways into four national choirs that go on tours, perform in prestigious venues and partner with a variety of festivals in the UK and beyond. Singing with NYCOS at all levels from age 7-25 creates friendships, builds confidence and immerses young people in the joys of music-making and the remarkable effects that result when voices join together in harmony. It is also about excellence and has led over the years to prestigious performances in settings like Carnegie Hall, the BBC Proms and the Edinburgh International Festival. NYCOS founder and musical director Christopher Bell, pithily describes in a Scotsman interview, what NYCOS is all about:
‘People hear the term youth choir, and immediately think of light voices, choreographed moves, happy clapping, a few cheesy folk songs …. NYCOS has moved on from that and onto the main stage.’
NYCOS organises residential training courses. It bases its educational principles on the teachings of Hungarian Composer and Educator Zoltán Kodály. It provides training for music practitioners, as well as specialist and non-specialist teachers at primary, secondary, further and higher education levels and publishes a series of resources for teachers and choir leaders. Underpinned by all this, singing with NYCOS means commitment and determination, learning new skills, working together and experiencing the joys of performances that can thrill audiences and create a huge sense of hope and wellbeing.
The NYCOS senior choir members were in magnificent form for their performance of Carmina Burana at the Perth Concert Hall on 23rd August. The vocal skills, the energy and the musicality were exhilarating. Several people sang solos and at one point the senior choir was joined by junior singers from local NYCOS branches. The whole production, along with splendid instrumental accompaniment on pianos and percussion, was held together in the skilled and inspired conducting of Christopher Bell. The audience was rapturous in its appreciation, and rose to its feet for an extended ovation that concluded an outstanding event. It was NYCOS at its vibrant and exhilarating best.
Maggie’s and NYCOS each have their roots in Scotland. Beyond that, you may say, they don’t have much in common. On reflection, I think they do. Both began with the vision of an inspired leader and innovator. Maggie’s development was initially in its country of origin, but soon travelled across borders and cultures, from Europe to South East Asia. Whilst the jurisdiction of NYCOS is Scotland, its choirs have performed with great success around the world, from Australia to the USA. Both organisations can be seen as models for others to emulate, sharing their knowledge and experience and acting as catalysts for innovation elsewhere.
Now Maggie’s and NYCOS are each enjoying the excitement of a 30th anniversary.
Maggie’s V&A exhibition entitled Architecture that Cares was opened with an evening of presentations and discussions. In Liverpool, Just Come In is a photographic exhibition by Tabitha Jussa, showcasing a selection of RIBA award-winning Maggie’s centres, celebrated for their exceptional social, cultural, and civic value. Around the country Maggie’s supporters are organising other special events to raise funds and awareness. Its anniversary year will come to an end with a service in Westminster Abbey.
NYCOS took Carmina Burana on a 30th anniversary Scottish tour, winning glowing reviews and closing in the Usher Hall, Edinburgh with a sell-out gala concert in which they were joined by the BBC Scotland Symphony Orchestra. One review described the piece as ‘a tall order for any chorus, but the young people of NYCOS took it in their stride, meticulously prepared by Bell and his associates … this was a Carmina Burana of a clarity that is rarely heard … a precisely-voiced chamber interpretation of the work that revealed its musical riches as much as its eccentricities’. The choice was especially fitting. NYCOS singers had performed Carlo Orff’s great tapestry of human life in its first concert, exactly 30 years before.
Maggie’s and NYCOS are exemplars of civil society, working in partnership with a wide variety of organisations to maximise their impact. They are supported by private as well as public funds, and by volunteers and well-wishers in various capacities. Their orientations are local, national and international. Above all, they are committed to a creative excellence that shines through everything they do. I’m pleased to say that their paths do cross from time to time. Regional NYCOS choirs, such as at Inverness, have hosted summer concerts that raise money for Maggie’s and NYCOS Dundee has collaborated with the Just Sing at Maggie’s initiative. There may indeed be other such examples of which I’m unaware.
Perhaps in their fourth decade, the two organisations will come together in some new and exciting ways? Living with cancer is a uniquely complex form of biographical disruption. Human voices joined together in song can touch the spirit, sooth, console and inspire. A choral organisation and a cancer support charity may find huge areas of expertise and interest in common. We should celebrate the 30th anniversaries and manifold achievements of Maggie’s and NYCOS, and perhaps keep a look out for future collaborations between them!
Architecture that Cares continues at the V&A Dundee, until 1st November 2026
Just Come In continues at Gallery 2, RIBA North, 21 Mann Island, Liverpool, until 29th November 2026
Featured image: Getty Images
Maggie’s V&A exhibition images: David Clark
NYCOS concert at Perth: From Facebook
