Good things come to those who wait, apparently! Well, it's true! Recently we were buoyed by the wonderful news that Behringer part of the Music Tribe had chosen the Songwriting Charity as one of dozens of non-profit organisations working around the world who provide music making opportunities to children and young people, particularly those who experience disadvantage and hardship. Considering the past two and a bit years everybody has been having, this was fantastic news and gave us all some welcome relief and joy in equal measure. Behringer rocks! 

We received the shipments of the fantastic MS-1 and Headphones at our Dartford and Cambridge centres towards the end of May, 2021 and began incorporating the instruments into our remote and face-to-face work. Nathan Timothy said, 'It's been such a joy to deliver the synths kindly donated by Behringer to children in many of our partner schools. I'm so pleased I made an effort to personally deliver them to the children most at need because I saw first hand the incredible impact the gift of an instrument has! It reminded me of the day I got my first synth and them later my first piano. I've loved receiving thank you notes and videos from parents and teachers over the past few months showing me how they're progressing with their new synth. I can't thank Dan and the team at Music Tribe enough for making this happen. Simply life changing.'

Beneficiaries of this wonderful gift include young people working with us from home, special schools for young people with severe learning difficulties (SLD), profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD), physical disabilities, medical conditions and associated learning difficulties, and young people recovering from acquired brain injury through a special project with the Cambridge Centre for Paediatric Neuropsychological Rehabilitation (CCPNR).

The CCNPR project has been a radical departure for the charity due mainly because it was devised and executed during lockdown and delivered with restrictions on travel and working from home. Working remotely is always challenging, however the project has been an incredible experience for us and the young people we've had the privilege to support thus far, in particular Mia (pictured below with permission) seen here with one of the Behringer MS-1 donated to the charity.

We need all of our supporters to get behind us and help us reach our pledge target of £10,000. It's a lot of money, but we know we can do this if everyone gets behind us. We've already had big promises offline that we have our fingers crossed for! We've also had donations made directly to us via CAF Donate in response to this campaign - thank you! 

Why does it matter that we reach our target? Most importantly, it matters because this money is specifically being used to develop our support programme for young people who live with brain injury, an injury that impacts everything in their lives, their relationships, their learning, hopes, dreams and future prospects and opportunities. We have been privileged to work with a small group of young people on a one-to-one basis through the course of the last 12 months, running monthly sessions in the Cambridge area via Microsoft Teams and a couple of in person sessions too. Young people were referred to our programme by the Cambridge Centre for Paediatric Neuropsychological Rehabilitation (CCPNR) based in Cambridge. To date we have delivered over 20 sessions funded by us and by generous donors who stuck with us no matter what! 

Secondly, reaching our £10,000 crowdfunding target matters because we have the opportunity to have the amount matched via the National Emergencies Trust which helps voluntary and community organisations overcome the effects of the pandemic. The pandemic impacted our finances quickly and brutally. We saw our income drop 80% on the previous year when almost all our schools' programmes were postponed indefinitely at the beginning of lockdown. Things are beginning to improve, but the damage done as a result of 18 months of restrictions continues to see us struggle to develop programmes, initiate new projects and do what we do best!

We hope to be able to make this offering more widely available and reach more young people and their support networks across not just Cambridgeshire, but regionally and nationally. Our good friends at Behringer and KORG UK have been incredibly generous supporters of all our projects, particularly during this ongoing challenge to the health and mental health of young people in our communities.

So there we are..... we need you to get behind our campaign, to make that pledge and help us reach that target. We can't do this without your help!