Light Up A Life 2026

Light up a Life for a lost loved one – purchase a star to be hung on our tree in their memory.

Buy one star for £5 Buy three stars for £10

We’re remembering and celebrating loved ones during the festive season with our tree of stars. During the festive season, the tree outside the main entrance to the Queen Elizabeth (QE) Hospital Gateshead becomes a Christmas dedicated to over 100 loved ones who have passed. You can add your friends or relatives to our tree by gifting a star in their name.

The stars will decorate our tree throughout the 2026 festive season as a tribute to people who are no longer with us, while the lights will remind us to celebrate how they lit up our lives – leading to our Light up a Life event. In January 2027, we will send the stars to the person who purchased them as memento.

Buy your memory star for 2026

Buy a star for our Christmas tree and Light up a Life event in memory of a loved one. All proceeds go to Gateshead Health Charity.

Light up a Life service 2026

You can also join us for the “Light Up A Life” Service; a chance for staff, patients, families, friends and our community to come together to remember and celebrate the lives of lost loved ones.

Gateshead Health Charity will host the “Light Up A Life” service on Thursday 4 December 2025 from 6:00pm at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead.

A photo collage of photographs taken from the Light Up A Life event 2024. — 2024

Past Light up a Life events

Gateshead Health Charity brought the community together in a Remembrance Service, named Light Up A Life on 28 November 2024. Held outside the main entrance of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the event featured readings by the Trust Chaplains and performances by the Trust Choir, along with George Clarke who switched on the lights. Families, staff, and local residents gathered to honour and celebrate the lives of loved ones who have passed, away.

In this heartwarming video, we bring you Gateshead Health’s first-ever Light up a Life 2023 Remembrance Ceremony, presented by the dedicated team at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust and QE Charitable Funds.

This touching ceremony, held on the evening of 30 November 2023 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, was a beautiful way to remember and celebrate the lives of loved ones who are no longer with us.

If you missed the ceremony, or if you attended and want to see it again, then please join us as we Light up a Life to honour those we have lost and share messages of hope and love.

Whether you watch this video to remember someone special or enjoy the uplifting atmosphere, we hope it brings you comfort and peace.

Featuring: Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Patients and Staff, Trudie Davies – Chief Executive, Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, Kris Mackenzie – Group Director of Finance and Digital, Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust.

It was accompanied by music by the Gateshead Health NHS Trust Choir.

We were honoured to have special guests Lewis and Jamie Miley from Newcastle United Football Club attend.

Lewis and Jamie Miley are up-and-coming Newcastle United players who grew up in Gateshead and are deeply rooted in grassroots football and the local Gateshead community.

Thank you for joining us for this special event.