Sound Waves South West - Health through Music

As in previous years I will be presenting my report under separate headings with an additional report relating to the ‘Instrument Loan Scheme’ presented at the end by Trustee Maggie Perryman.

Events
The first event held in 2007 was the modest ‘splits and cream’ garden party held at Bramcote on a warm Saturday early in June. The financial return of £224 was a welcome addition to the Sound Waves South West Music & Music Therapy Trust (S.W.S.W.) funds.

Two Orchestras offered their services to help SWSW fund raising, firstly the Leamington Sinfonia on 30th June and later the return to Bude in October of the St. Mewan Sinfonia. Attendances at both quality amateur events were poor and it was only due to the generosity of both orchestras providing posters and programmes that a small profit was made.

The main event of the year was the annual Bude Arts Festival incorporating the ‘Proms In The Park’. Yet again the very poor weather resulted in cancellations and reduced attendances. This last factor was particularly noticeable at the Multistory Theatre production of ‘The Magicians Daughter’ held at Budehaven Community School where only a handful of people attended although children entered free, and the John Rowlands Pritchard Workshop and Concert on the final night of the Festival week. The cumulative result of all these factors resulted in for the first time a substantial loss being made, mainly due to the cost of the ‘Opus Anglicanum’ Concert which although a high quality performance was both expensive and very poorly attended. It should be mentioned that the ‘Proms’ despite the rather cool evening remained dry and was much enjoyed by those who did attend. This event was sponsored by a donation of £500 from the Blanchminster Trust.

It should be mentioned that although the rain, as last year, stopped the Opening parade, the children were able to successfully perform their dances before an appreciative audience of parents and friends at the Parkhouse Centre. Great credit must be given to Doreen Jones and Lucy Burrow for the weeks of tuition given to the children prior to the event at Morwenstow, Bude Junior and Whitstone Schools. Over 60 children performed their dances complimented by a display by the Ros Keltek Dance Group in their Newlyn Costume.

As a result of the difficulties encountered of bad weather, poor attendances, insufficient volunteers despite very hard and energetic work by all the Trustees and friends, the resultant loss made it imperative that a decision was made not to hold any future Arts Festival Weeks but to retain the highly successful Workshops in Schools and a limited amount of fund raising Concerts held during the year.

There is no doubt the July week of workshops in Schools brought the return of the ‘Graffiti Classics’ Group which as before was highly successful and very much appreciated by over 2,500 children. It was unfortunate that the singer Miranda Sykes (a separate performer) had to pull out of her scheduled visit as she had been particularly appreciated by the Special Needs young people at Whitstone Head School. This new SWSW initiative in bringing the performances to those attending Special Units was a successful feature of the week long programme. Most of the Trustees attended one or more of the performances and were able to gain a valuable insight into the way music and their performances engaged the special needs children and young people. The two funders The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust gave £5000 and the Ernest Cook Trust £1500 making the visit of the talented performers to Bude a reality which was very much appreciated by all the Schools. The remaining funds, due to the incomplete visit of Miranda Sykes, were permitted by both Charities to be carried over to the following year when alternative performers could be found through the offices of ‘Live Music Now! South West’ and ‘Superact’ who had made all initial arrangements on behalf of both SWSW and all the schools.

Coffee mornings and Bazaars attended in the run up to Christmas helped to raise the spirits of the Trustees as all were modestly successful especially in launching the two specially designed SWSW Christmas Cards. This latter proving a successful and popular new fund raising initiative.

Collection Boxes.
Both Heather Bolitho (HB) and Gina Anderson (GA) should be congratulated in their continued commitment to putting out, collection and banking of the monies received through this medium. HB has placed seven Boxes in the Bude area shops and through a new arrangement is now able to bank the money received directly into the SWSW Account avoiding the carrying of heavy bags of coins to and from her home for counting. GA with three boxes put out in the Camelford and Delabole area has also made a valuable contribution to the SWSW funds. Trustee Clare Monro placed one box at Stratton Post Office which due to the closure of the shop yielded no result. Three boxes remain in the office for general use at SWSW events.

Funding
In this financial year the Trust received five major grants namely £5,000 from the S.F.I.A. Educational Trust Ltd., £3595 from the Wessex Youth Trust, £1575 from the Mouth & Foot Painting Artists, £1,000 from The Leonard Laity Stoate Charitable Trust and £575 from the Cornwall Music Therapy Trust for Music Therapy and the most welcome grant of £7,000 from Lloyds TSB Foundation for Administration and Publicity. This latter grant enabled for the first time SWSW to make an addition to their staff in the form of a Public Relations/Fund Raiser. Jacki Stephens accepted this work on a free- lance basis commencing work at the beginning of September.

Unsolicited private donations from various sources have proved a most valuable source of income most importantly £500 from J.P. Morgan Cazenove and a most successful second concert held by Trustee Ricardo Dorich which brought in a total of £1,650 to the Charity over the past two years.
In a year when funding has proved more difficult than in previous years on all fronts, these donations have proved a life line.

Publicity.
The funding of the SWSW publication ‘On The Record’ has proved extremely difficult in the year 2007 with the withdrawal of continued funding by the North Cornwall District Council ‘Community Chest’ and other local sources also declining to assist with costs. The advertising revenue raised fell well short of the required sums to collate, print and distribute. Despite the acknowledged value to the community, the information value to SWSW, the willingness shown by all parties to help with distribution, and the many marks of appreciation, the loss of income to the core work of Music Therapy produced a situation which could no longer be allowed to continue unless financial support could be found for the following year.

The arrival of Jacki Stephens in her new role of PR/Fundraiser permitted the realisation of an earlier idea to publish a leaflet to act as both an easily readable information source and at the same time to act as an encouragement to receive both donations and legacies. This work was in the early stages of planning by November.

Membership
Although this has remained steady with the same members renewing each year the numbers have not increased despite a re-designed membership form with for the first time making a Standing Order an extra payment option. The fee was increased in 2007 to £12 per annum,

Website.
With the new funding available Jacki Stephens has been able to expand and update the website and each report has shown a steady increase in the amount of visits. The areas of particular interest noted in 2007 were ‘History’, ‘Notice Board’, ‘Achievements, ‘Instrument Loan Scheme’ and ‘Aims’ with a total of just over 8,700 unique visits since May 2007 peaking in June with well over 13,000 page views. The value of the website was shown when as a result of a front page advertisement for a Music Therapist to join the SWSW Team Carine Kelley responded and subsequently joined the Charity.

With Jacki Stephens becoming more pro-active throughout the time she has been with us there has been a perceptible increase in the photographic content of the web pages. This has been at times a difficult task with various permissions to be obtained from parents of any children involved in publicity photographs, with a great deal of behind the scenes work. However SWSW now is building up a good portfolio of photographs taken at various events which will prove a valuable resource for the future.

New Acquisitions.
After some very difficult months when the Secretary had struggled with an old second hand computer, it was decided to finally seek the necessary funding to purchase a new computer and follow this up with signing up to Broadband. This purchase was achieved by two grants from the North Cornwall District Council ‘Community Chest’ of £345 and ‘Act Now’ with a grant of £60 for start up with Broadband.

Music Therapists.
The SWSW ‘Team’ remained the same throughout the year except in October 2007 Caroline Simpson announced she would be leaving the Bude area practice at the Autumn half Term to take up work with the MusicSpace Trust in Gloucester in order to be nearer her relatives. Prior to her departure Caroline undertook, together with other colleagues, the organisation of the SWSW Music Therapy Conference which was entitled ‘Tuning In – an Introduction to Music Therapy’. This event was held on 15th. September at the Parkhouse Centre, Bude, sponsored by a grant from The David Penhaligon Trust of £250. The Trustees, in appreciation of all Caroline’s work in the formation of the Bude practice where she was much loved and appreciated, gave her a farewell Dinner at the Falcon Hotel.

Immediately upon receipt of Caroline’s notice to leave Bude, the Trustees advertised for a suitably qualified Music Therapist to take over her work. It was at this time that the value of having an already established SWSW ‘ Team’ of Music Therapists showed itself when music Therapist Henry Dunn volunteered to take over the work in the interim at the Bude Junior ARB Unit with Mike Hewitt undertaking the work at the Camelford ARB Unit. Due to lack of available time the other areas of Caroline’s work in Bude, Bideford and Ilfracombe were kept on hold until a permanent Music Therapist was found.
As a result of an Interview which took place on 1st December Carine Kelley was invited to join the SWSW Team and she took up the new work with 10 disabled children at St. Stephens C.P. School in January 2008.

It should be noted here that the support given by both Henry Dunn and Mike Hewitt during the difficult period from the Autumn half term onwards was very much appreciated, added to which Mike Hewitt has given up his time to attend Interviews of prospective candidates to join the SWSW Team.

Patrons & Trustees.
In recognition of his support and interest in the work of SWSW Kim Brewer, the Concert Pianist was asked to become a Patron of the Charity which he graciously accepted.
In September Jill Wellby who has been a Trustee on two occasions from the first inception of ‘Sound Waves’ and who has been over the past eight years a most supportive and active part of the ‘Team’ decided to stand down and Vera Metters was invited to take her place.

Conclusion.
Saying thank you to all the Trustees who have all acted as Committee members over the past year is particularly hard when all have contributed in their many different ways to the success of SWSW, and seen us through our few but difficult times. All have given one hundred percent of their skills, knowledge and advice, and as Chairman I am extremely grateful for the guidance and practical support I have received. There is no doubt that without this I could not have continued in my work for our Charity to which I am totally dedicated.

I am sure that those Trustees who have not played a major role would like me to acknowledge with gratitude the hard work put in by Maggie Perryman in running most efficiently the ‘Instrument Loan Scheme’, handling with patience the increasing demands on this growing popular service. We are all proud of her achievements in this field of our work.
We all owe much to Rowly Pillman who has kept, as always, a firm control of the finances, a most necessary part of a healthy Charity budget which has grown more complex and challenging each year. His prudent guidance and clarity is very much appreciated by all the Trustees who have relied completely on his financial advice.

The backbone of every organisation are those who do the mundane day to day work, and we all recognise that Geoff Turney has fulfilled this role completely giving himself unstintingly to the interests of the Charity.

There has understandably been problematic areas of SWSW’s work as is shown by my report regarding the major difficulties encountered with running the Bude Arts Festival and the publication ‘On The Record’ (OTR). In my opinion I feel that running the Festival in its various forms for over a period of six years on a limited budget and producing up to 2,500 copies per annum of O.T.R. in the same period can only be viewed as a success, and should be regarded as a proud achievement by SWSW. The fact that the funding for both events has faded due to the economic conditions of the time and other contributing factors such as the weather should not be seen as a failure.

There is no doubt that SWSW and the work it carries out in the community is becoming more widely known, appreciated and valued, and all those who have given their time, money and efforts to this end should be applauded and thanked for the splendid achievements particularly this year in the field of Music Therapy.

This concludes my report for 2007.

Judyth Gwynne

Chairman

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