CAMBODIA Trip For Greenock Songwriter

Inverclyde NOW
30 January 2009

GREENOCK singer/songwriter Yvonne Lyon’s work attracted such interest at a gig that she was offered a place on a charity’s fact-finding trip to Cambodia

Yvonne was singing at the Greenbelt festival in Cheltenham last year and later got an e-mail from Christian aid organisation Tearfund.

She explained: “A woman who had been there enjoyed the way I wrote and how I observed the world in my songs. She invited me to go as a guest on this team of women going to Cambodia looking at women’s issues in poverty and attending a leadership conference.

“She said Tearfund see it as a good thing to invest in artists. She said that if the trip inspires me and I write something that they can use in the future then great or if I talk about the experience at gigs it will have done its job.

Among the team are a youth worker and a representative from Premier Christian Radio. During the 10-day trip the group are visiting projects run by Tearfund partner organisations, hospitals, churches and stay in a village for two days with a family dealing with HIV/Aids.

Yvonne said: “This has really come out of the blue. It’s a chance to write about and experience a new perspective.”

Yvonne plans to start work on a new album, her fourth, in the spring.