Blog. Our friend April McCaig
December 01, 2019 | Author Mark Lewis
Yesterday, we heard the sad news that one of our beneficiaries, April McCaig, had died.
If you worked around the Manchester hotel scene over the past decade or two, the chances are you would have met April. If you did, you’d remember her. April was one of those people who lights up a room. She had a heart of gold, a glint in her eye and a smile as wide as Deansgate.
April relished her life in hotels, and she adored delighting her guests. She worked for a long time as conference manager at what was then the Palace Hotel, where she was much loved by colleagues. Her enthusiasm for pushing the sustainability agenda earnt her the nickname, the Green Queen, along with several industry awards. She was a staunch supporter of the MHA Ball, which every year raises funds for Hospitality Action.
April’s career was cut short when she received a cancer diagnosis, in 2018. Soon after that, HA began to provide her with financial support, so that she could focus on getting better. Sadly, life had other plans for her. Her cancer worsened, and by early 2019 she knew in her heart of hearts that she didn’t have long to live.
Around this time, April decided she wanted to make a video describing how HA was helping her during her illness. It was a measure of the woman, that she was determined to give up a precious day of her life to give us the gift of her story.
I travelled up to Manchester to meet her. In our interview, she recounted happy times working in hospitality, before telling me how HA had helped take away any financial worries, enabling her to focus on living out her last months to the full and catching up with friends and family. Her illness hadn’t dulled her sparkle. She was bright and vivacious, a force of nature.
I could count the number of times I met April on one hand, but she made a huge impact on me. Her positivity was startling and inspiring. She seemed to me to encapsulate the true spirit of a consummate hospitality professional: warm, generous, friendly, fun-loving and committed.
April loved a party. And she always looked a million dollars. Last time I saw her, she was in a bar with her friends Richard Morrell and Dawn Holding in central Manchester, just before Christmas. As I left her to head for Piccadilly Station, she had a big glass of wine in her hand and a smile on her face.
Hospitality Action is a force for good. It exists to help hospitality people set their lives back on track. But not all of our stories have happy endings.
Rest in peace, April, and thank you.
Watch April's film.