£3,200 was awarded to the London Borough of Haringey for a further year of whole class violin & guitar teaching project at Stroud Green Primary school.  Julie Spencer, one of the teachers involved, wrote: "I feel very positive about the work undertaken" and a school governor wrote: “The scheme has been an enormous success with 30 children learning violin and 30 children learning guitar. The children have gained confidence and a great sense of pride in their achievement. Similarly, the class teachers who have learnt along side the pupils have got a great sense of satisfaction from the classes. Many of the children have already expressed their desire to continue learning next year. The school's Parents Teachers Association PTA organized many fund raising events and secured funding from grant giving bodies to match fund your funding.”  

We continued to support the Nonesuch Orchestra, which gives orchestral concerts in schools.  We also funded a two day school visit by Rhythmically Speaking to Churchfields Primary School, and will support the organisation again next year.  We started to support the London Suzuki group’s violin teaching programme, support that we want to continue.

The English String Quartet was awarded another grant of £1,000 to do a couple of teaching concerts in north London schools.  The Quartet's stated aim is "to make great music accessible to a wider audience of all ages and backgrounds with live performances of the highest standard but at a local venue".  Previous concerts have been a huge success (see report); a hundred children from 6 to 11 listened in wrapt attention to Schubert,  Webern, Haydn and Shostakovich and had lots of fun with various musical games.  "The players were so enthusiastic that any stereotypical images the children might have had about classical musicians were completely dispelled," wrote one teacher. " We are sure that many children will have been inspired to want to learn instruments themselves." But a letter published in the Guardian from the quartet’s violist and executive director, Luciano Iorio, notes how frustratingly few children are given the opportunity to hear great music, from Mozart to Shostakovich, played to the highest standard.

Under our programme for children with special needs, £1500 was awarded to the Kaos organisation, a thriving Community Arts Company based in Haringey, North London run by the amazingly energetic Suzy Davies.  The money from the trust was used to fund Deaf Support Facilitators for Kaos Choir sessions, and we will continue to fund Kaos.  We also funded the composer David Stoll to conduct further composing sessions with pupils at Brookfields special needs school in north east London.  These were highly successful, and we are continuing our association with David in the coming academic year.

We made awards totalling £1958.50 to assist children to have individual music lessons which would otherwise have been difficult to afford.  The Trustees keep a close eye on how these go and we feel the money is very well spent.  It is clear that in at least some cases the lessons provide a musical lifeline in very difficult circumstances, and we intend to continue to fund such lessons where appropriate.  Some of the feedback we have received appears below.

£3,200 was awarded to the London Borough of Redbridge, to continue the brass teaching programme at Mossford Green Primary School, which was started with money from the Trust in 2003. Cornets, tenor horns, baritones and trombones have been purchased and weekly lessons provided to  about a dozen children.  The project has been very successful, with all the children performing in their class musical lessons, and one pupil going on to join the Redbridge junior wind band.

Brass players in action

at Mossford Green PS

For more details of our projects, please look up the annual reports to the Charity Commission, posted on our reports page or view last year’s report on-line.

“..I would like to play the violin for ever...”

“ ... My time in the States was an unforgettable experience and I am truly grateful that the trust has been funding my musical studies and allowing me to develop and progress as a musician during my time as a Sixth Form Student.....”

Dear people of the Sheena Booth Music Trust

Thank you for funding a year of wonderful piano lessons; each and every one greatly appreciated.

In friendship,

Tony, a keen player