Geri Horner delivers hopeful Christmas message after ‘difficult and sad’ year

Geri Horner has delivered a Christmas message praising the work of NHS staff, Captain Sir Tom Moore and Marcus Rashford in a “difficult and sad” year.

The Spice Girls star, 48, urged fans to stay positive amid the coronavirus pandemic, look towards 2021 and “step into the light that comes with spring”.

In the latest episode of her YouTube series Rainbow Woman, she is seen standing in front of a fire surrounded by festive decorations.

The singer recalls looking up at the night sky earlier this month and seeing an astrological event referred to as a Christmas kiss, where Saturn and Jupiter appear to align.

Horner, who lives in Oxfordshire with her husband Christian Horner, team principal of the Red Bull Formula One racing team, said it was ironic “when we can’t even touch our loved ones”.

She added: “2020 has been difficult and sad. Lots of us have faced loss, bereavement and loneliness, and I’ve got to say, it has been downright frightening to live through a global pandemic.

“So many people have had real struggles with mental health, as well as physical health, work, and the motivation to keep cheerful.

“But just as the stars shine in the night sky, some special moments and memories gleam out as we look back.”

Horner praised Captain Sir Tom, who raised more than £32 million for the NHS by walking laps of his garden, for “a service that makes us all so very proud to be British”.

She also referenced footballer Rashford for his campaign to end child hunger and the start of vaccinations across the UK as reasons to be optimistic.

She said: “The new year is dawning, the flame of the future ls lit, and it’s ours to protect and carry forward. We have challenges to face, but in the year ahead we are ready to meet them, we have a new order of kindness and thoughtfulness. We have learned that people with small voices need to be heard.

“Thanks to 23-year old footballer Marcus Rashford, we have campaigned for free meals for all low-income school children, and to eradicate food poverty in our country.

“We have a vaccine rolling out against the Covid-19 virus, and we have each other’s backs. We know this now, because we’ve shown it through the last hard months.”

Previous episodes of Horner’s YouTube series have seen the star deliver Christmas presents to NHS workers in London and salute British nurses, including Florence Nightingale and First World War nurse Edith Cavell, in song.

The latest episode of Rainbow Woman will be available on YouTube on December 24 at 2pm.