‘Dear Ukraine – we are here for you…’
These are the heartfelt words of an Edmondsham teen who has penned a song for the people of the war-torn country.
Daisy Andrews, 13, who attends Bryanston Knighton House School in Durweston, wrote her acoustic piece after watching the recently televised Concert for Ukraine.
“As I listened to the concert, it gave me the idea to write the song for them,” says Daisy.
“When I was helping my mother at work, I’d think of different chords that might work.”
She also used her free time to consider various chords and lyrics, including some in Ukrainian, which she worked out with the help of a translation programme, experimenting until she hit on a winning formula.
“After coming home from school and practising a few nights a week and weekends, I got the rhythm and lyrics then thought of the title Dear Ukraine,” she says. “It took me about a week to write and compose it, then I continued to practise until I knew it off by heart.”
So far she has only performed the song in public twice, first at Edmonsham’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, and also on Forest FM.
“I did Dear Ukraine and a couple of others solo with no backing, and people seemed to really like it,” she says. Her school has also put her recording on its YouTube channel.
Musically, she says she’s been influenced by two things: Ed Sheeran and her father, Andrew, who used to play guitar to her each evening when she was younger.
After penning Dear Ukraine, plus other songs, including one for her mother, Daisy still hopes to train as a vet in the future, but also to progress her singer-songwriting career.

by Faith Eckersall