Mark Withers has been working with Jessie’s Fund since our very beginnings, having been a colleague of Jessie’s parents even before that. We asked him a few questions about his work. As a musician, how did you come to specialise in working with children with SEND? When I was a...
A concert to celebrate the life of Alan Hacker OBE took place in Winchester Cathedral on 30th September, raising well over £1,000 for Jessie’s Fund. Alan was a ground-breaking clarinettist and conductor who inspired a generation of composers and pioneered historically appropriate performance of classical music. He would have been...
Rachel Claire Scholey, an alumnus of Sheffield Music Academy, was a student music therapist who was tragically killed in a car accident before Christmas. Music Academy alumni, staff and students came together on Friday 27th April to present a concert celebrating her life, and chose to invite donations to Jessie’s...
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a piece of EU legislation which becomes enforceable in all EU countries from May 25, 2018. It’s designed to make it simpler for people to control how organisations use their personal details. As part of the new regulation, all organisations which hold data on people...
For the past two years we’ve kicked off the New Year with a training day for our team of specialist musicians: some 20 or so people, with a huge amount of combined experience of helping children with additional needs to make music, came together for sharing and learning. This year...
Last year we started working with families at Hob Moor Oaks School and Children’s Service, in York. The sessions were for the parents, carers and children who are enrolled at the school and known to the Portage Service. Portage is a home visiting educational service for pre-school children with special...
We are currently accepting applications from organisations seeking grants for music therapy or interactive music projects with children who have additional needs or serious illness. Guidelines and application forms can be found here. Applications will need to be with us no later than 8 June for consideration at our summer...
For 17 years, until her untimely death, Victoria Wood was our Patron. Jessie’s Fund was a small, infant charity when we asked whether she would join us. Now we have a great new Patron, Maxine Peake, but Victoria will always stay in important part of the Jessie’s Fund story. Here,...
We did it! We’re back from our 2017 sponsored bike ride, having cycled over 300 miles in England, Belgium and The Netherlands. We had a great team of 19, some of whom were old friends and others, new, but everyone felt like old friends after the first half day. We had a...
The Listening Project is BBC Radio 4’s collection of intimate conversations between friends and relatives, recorded in partnership with local BBC radio stations, and stored in full at the British Library, as a social history record of our lives today. Jessie’s mum and sister recorded a conversation about Jessie’s last...
