Thousands of pounds have been donated to a North Somerset children’s charity to enable it to carry out more of its valued music therapy.
Children’s Hospice South West, which cares for and supports children with life-limiting illnesses and their families, has been awarded £10,000 by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation.
The money has been given out as part of the foundation’s grant programme aimed at funding education, accessibility and diversity in the arts.
It will be used to help CHSW enhance its music therapy facilities, supporting sessions with qualified music therapists at Charlton Farm in Wraxall as well as its other two hospices in Devon and Cornwall.
Music therapist Cerdiwen Rees said: “Music therapy is such an important service for us to offer as it focuses on what children can do rather than what they cannot.
“It gives them an opportunity to express themselves in and through music, and for those children who don’t have the capacity for language it is a way of drawing out responses when all other means of communication have gone.
“Music, quite simply, allows them to focus on something other than their condition. Children often leave the room with a big smile on their faces having achieved something that they thought they never could.
“And, children even at the end of life still respond to the sound of music, even when they cannot respond to anything else.”
Recent grants from Jessie’s Fund, The Radcliffe Trust and the Redevco Foundation will also be put toward expanding the music therapy sessions run by the charity which offers respite, palliative and end-of-life care to poorly children.
CHSW trust and grants coordinator Catherine Collier said: “Music therapy has proven to be a vital resource for our children and families, and this donation will make a real impact to our work with short and precious lives.”
To find out more about the work of CHSW and how donations can be made visit www.chsw.org.uk
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