Cottenham Music Therapy Project
The Cottenham Music Therapy Project is for students, aged 11-16, with emotional, behavioural and social difficulties. It is an established provision at the Centre School, part of the Cottenham Federation. The project was part of the leading study in a national research project (led by the Institute of Education in London and funded by the Music Therapy Charity) to look at the impact and effectiveness of this work for young people at risk of exclusion.
This scheme enhances the quality of lives of young people in the community who otherwise might get into serious trouble through their unacceptable behaviour.
A £500 grant awarded from our Seymour Charitable Fund to the Cottenham Music Therapy Project enabled the purchase of a new PA and recording package. 25 students have benefited from the new equipment. Feedback from the therapist shows the difference and impact of the grant funding and hopefully is another illustration of how small sums of money can transform lives and provide new opportunities.
“One student with a hearing impairment had very low self-esteem
was withdrawn and reluctant to use music to express herself. Through the
PA system she was happy to listen to pop music and sat for long periods
of time on the speaker to experience music in a new way. I introduced
the use of the microphone to allow our voices to be heard through the
speaker as well. This playful and spontaneous means of communicating was
fun and the student responded well to the idea. This led to creating
interactions between us and lots of shouting watching the PA system’s
lights. After several weeks of one-to-one music therapy, the student was
much more confident and was keen to show a friend what she was doing.
This was arranged and the hearing impaired student and her friend, a
hearing student, had fun together using music, microphones and singing
to share the enjoyment of pop music.
The equipment provided an equal playing field for the students, where vibration, volume and visual aids enabled the hearing impaired students to use music as well."
Movie Madness Holiday Club
A holiday club, "Movie Madness", provided leisure and educational activities based around the broad theme of choices (facing and making choices, choosing friends, choosing what's important etc).
The week long summer holiday club for residents of the Abbey area was funded with a grant from the Cambridge City Council Area Committee and has been reported as "a huge success".
Organised by Dr Alex Davies, the Youth & Community Worker of Christ the Redemmer Church, with the help of volunteers, the club which ran for 5 days was aimed at families from the Abbey area of the city with pre-school and primary aged children.
As well as the grant funding the other essential ingredient was the volunteers who helped organised and run the club, some of which took holiday leave from their own jobs to offer their support.
Children attended with their parents/guardians and took part in a wide range of activities, such as; arts and crafts, sports, circus skills, den building and songs and story sessions. There were also visits from Shepreth Wildlife Park and a children’s entertainer ‘Mr Marvel’. On the last day the club provided transport to Wicksteed Park for an outing.
One of the parents of children attending the club said “I feel that the holiday club is the best thing my children will have done this summer”.
Alex Davies said “The club has given the children that attended the opportunity to engage with activities that might have otherwise been out of their reach. Not only have the children have benefitted from low-cost, fun and educational activities but the parents and guardians have had the opportunity to participate in a community event and socialise with other parents."
Data from the County Council shows that life for many of the residents of Abbey Ward is challenging. Abbey has a population of around 9,400 and out of the wards of the city, Abbey contains the most benefit claimant units with 30% of households in Abbey received Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, compared to a City average of 19%. Abbey has the largest benefit population, with 1,913. In contrast, Newnham ward has a benefit population of just 118. Abbey has the highest number of claimant units containing children, with 333.
Life expectancy for woman living in the Abbey ward of Cambridge is seven years lower than in Newnham, for males five years lower.
The Holiday Club offers local families opportunites that they may otherwise struggle to access and has been such a success that organisers are considering holding more clubs during future school holidays, subject of course to be able to find further grant funding and willing volunteers who can give up their time to help.
