The Amber Trust brings music and fulfilment into the lives of blind Green Days Fair Workshops and partially sighted children - a lifeline in a confusing world This year was our third Green Days fair. It’s one of for schools our favourite events, held in June in West London Amber’s workshop programme and we raised over £600. A huge thank you to St The Amber Trust 2019 Michael and All Angels Church, who organises for schools, Music Makers, is our AmberNotes Music for Blind Children the fair, for their continuing support. newest venture. Early on during the introduction of the AmberPlus We have had an incredible number of other events supporting Amber through the scheme, some schools said that year. Here is a selection: they would be interested in AmberPlus workshops for groups The Amber Trust - the Royal Albert Hall’s of their pupils so that they could Are you support them with musical thinking of holding an activities through the year. So we first ever charity partner event for Amber? have taken the AmberPlus one- Get in touch to find out At the end of 2018, we were On a number of occasions throughout the year, Amber’s how we can help. to-one model and extended it absolutely delighted when Craig incredible cohort of dedicated volunteers took over the Hall 0300 323 9964/contact@ into schools through structured Hassall, Chief Executive of the Royal with their sashes and buckets. Not only have these bucket ambertrust.org workshops with up to six children Albert Hall, told us that Amber had collections provided much-needed funds for our charity but in a group, with their class teachers won an all-staff vote to be the Hall’s Amber has made masses of new friends and supporters. and support workers as well as inaugural charity partner for 2019. We also had a lot of fun! parents. New CEO We launched this year-long partnership in May with a But perhaps the most important gift of all has been the fantastic event, including some wonderful performances concert tickets given to Amber’s beneficiaries for concerts As Amber has grown exponentially over the last five years, the need for staff and from our Patron Derek Paravicini and Amber beneficiaries such as Peter and the Wolf, ABBAphonics, and The Proms. infrastructure has become ever more critical. Amber is now delighted to announce Ashleigh and Lucy. Attending concerts like these in such an iconic venue Anni Martin has been appointed as our very first CEO. provides life-changing experiences for Amber’s young musicians and their families. We are incredibly grateful to the Anni has already been working for Amber for over 3 years, Hall for their generosity. originally employed to set up our music services Little Amber and AmberPlus. She also has a wealth of other third sector management experience, including the RNIB for seven years, Autism Sussex and Dyfed Drug and Alcohol service. We also welcome Dr Hannah Marsden to the team. Hannah will be taking over running the music services from Anni and providing music-related support to all of Amber’s activities. A huge thank you to all our hard- working and dedicated music practitioners across the UK who provide these valuable one-to- one music sessions and group Amber welcomes a new Patron workshops to families and schools. Amber has been incredibly lucky to be supported by the Hall One of the highlights of the year was the appointment of throughout 2019 via bucket collections at events, concert world-renowned concert pianist and long-standing Amber tickets for beneficiaries, volunteering time from staff, and “Ashleigh had an amazing afternoon at the Royal Albert Hall supporter, James Lisney, as a Patron. James has already fund- and awareness-raising opportunities. In return, Amber dancing and singing along to ABBAphonics.” raised over £3,000 in this last year for Amber from a series trustee and founder Adam Ockelford has provided training Christine, Ashleigh’s mum. of stunning recitals at the 1901 Arts Club in London. sessions for Hall staff around the positive impact music can have on visually impaired children. We also welcome Spanish conductor Pablo Urbina as an Amber Ambassador. Pablo has a growing professional career The Amber Trust in the UK and abroad. For the last five years he has conducted Music for Blind Children the London City Orchestra, which, in January 2019, gave a The Amber Trust fundraising concert for Amber at St Michaels and All Angels 64a Princes Way, London SW19 6JF Church. Registered Charity No: 1050503 • Company No: 3117803 2019 © The Amber Trust. All rights reserved @theambertrust the-amber-trust theambertrust www.ambertrust.org ; [email protected] facebook.com/theambertrust Newsletter_Dec_2019.indd 1-2 05/12/2019 15:39 Global’s Make Some Coming soon! Achievements Noise funds Amber’s Amber’s new teaching to celebrate new music service for • Congratulations to Jimmy Alderson videos who has taken up his place at children with complex Southamtpon University to read music. We wish him all the best. needs • Well done to Lilly Kurata who In April, our Chair, Julia Walport, and trustee, Adam Ockelford, had a wonderful surprise when they visited Linden Lodge gained Distinction in her ABRSM School and were presented with a cheque for £88,000 by Classic FM presenter Aled Jones. The money is to fund our new music Diploma, won the JRAM Music service, AmberPlus, for two years. We launched the service in 2018 and is for families who have a visually impaired child age Festival ensemble prize with her 5-18 with complex needs. AmberPlus is currently supporting 47 families. partner Thomas Wang this year and has won first prize in several other Music Festivals. Hazel Minnie • We wish eight-year-old Eleanor the ‘Music is Hazel’s language’, says her proud mum, Lenny, Minnie was five best luck as she is playing Tiny Tim detailing all the ingenious ways Hazel finds to make music months old when she in A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic in every day. ‘She can create a rhythm by tapping a radiator, she joined Amber’s early London this winter. can get a tune out of any object she finds around the house, years music scheme, • On 1 April, Catherine Howells gave and sometimes she uses her own body to make music, clapping, Little Amber, with her a beautiful performance of The Swan stamping and clicking to improvise musical sounds and mum Caroline. As a at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with patterns.’ small baby she was Over the last two years, in partnership and physical needs - to be launched in the Fukushima Youth Sinfonietta. A diagnosed with Leber with the Applied Music Research Centre 2020. fantastic achievement. Eleven-year-old Hazel is also an increasingly fluent pianist, Congenital Amaurosis, at Roehampton University, Amber thanks to her lessons at the Worcester Snoezelen Centre, a degenerative eye has been developing a set of online A Little Amber video is already available which The Amber Trust have funded for over seven years. condition. Here she is at teaching resources – Sound Touch - for to watch on our website – three-year- home having her very those teaching blind children to play old Seth and his family enjoying a Little first music session with specially trained practitioner, Sarah, instruments and for those working Amber session with practitioner Gary having a lot of fun playing the drum! through music with visually impaired Day www.ambertrust.org/littleamber children with complex needs. These Please do take the time to watch - it’s a Minnie is now 18 months resources will comprise a set of 13 wonderful film. old and the family have videos and accompanying text relating had four sessions. Music to different levels of musical aptitude is helping her develop her listening skills and her ability to focus; her • The World Premier of Amber mobility is improving Amber’s Annual Concert – Alumna Alexia Sloane’s BBC Proms as she is encouraged to commissioned piece for VOCES8, move toward sounds, Wathen Hall, St Paul’s School Earthward, was given in the and she can recognise Cadogan Hall during the BBC Proms when people copy season. We are very proud! what she does in sound, which absolutely delights her! It is also important that Amber turns 25 in 2020! Hazel is very proud to have played in The Amber Trust’s Minnie develops her language and communication skills, annual concert in London this year alongside several other of and so Sarah has been showing Caroline how to encourage Amber’s beneficiaries - she really enjoyed performing to such ‘conversations’ through music using a drum and other a large and appreciative audience. Her mum, her teacher, instruments. Minnie babbles and vocalises in response. Sarah Glenn, and everyone here at Amber are very proud of her too! encourages her to interact by giving her the time to express herself and be acknowledged in return. Adam Ockelford and Hannah Marsden, who now manages Little Amber, visited Minnie at home, and were very impressed with how music is Join us next year as we helping her communication skills. celebrate our 25th birthday. Once again, we had a phenomenal we’re incredibly grateful, as always, to Caroline told us, ‘Minnie loves the lessons and we have really afternoon in Barnes celebrating the Karenne Mills and St Paul’s School for Look out for the celebrations benefited from them – incorporating music into Minnie’s talent of Amber’s young beneficiaries. making this important annual event throughout the year! everyday play which she has responded fantastically to!’ The concert was a huge success and possible.