Jess’ Celebration: Weekend of 5th/6th/7th February
Please find out how you can get involved on our Events Page at https://www.jessgrantcelebration.org.uk/events/
Please find out how you can get involved on our Events Page at https://www.jessgrantcelebration.org.uk/events/
A huge thank you from Jess Grant Celebration for everyone’s support. It’s just over 2 years since we first launched Jess’ charity, and it was this time a year ago that the new music therapy service was launched on the Children’s ward at Ipswich Hospital. We’ve put together a little thank you presentation for everyone who has helped and supported Jess Grant Celebration over the first 2 years.
Hope you enjoy seeing all the photos again. Thank you so much x
A massive thank you to Kesgrave High School Sixth Form for selecting Jess Grant Celebration to receive fundraising from the non-uniform day they recently organised. They raised the fantastic total of £465 for Jess’ charity, a brilliant amount that will make a huge difference. Jess would have been in Year 13 this year and we’re almost certain she would have stayed on at Kesgrave through the Sixth Form. We feel very grateful that Jess’ friends and peers chose to raise funds for Jess Grant Celebration and really appreciate all the organisation and hard work that went into their fundraising event.
It was lovely to catch up with Daisy Williamson, Music Therapist at Ipswich Hospital, and to hear how well the remote music therapy sessions have been going, and how much the children and parents have welcomed the interaction and opportunity for expression.
We are delighted to have been able to fund a steel tongue drum for Daisy to use at Ipswich Hospital. Daisy has very kindly sent us this video of her experimenting with this fabulous instrument. Daisy had this to say about the steel tongue drum: ‘It is very beautiful, and a lovely size – so great for children to play, very accessible, where a little effort can create a big effect!’
A huge thank you to the The Roger David Burrows Music Fund, https://www.rogerdavidburrows.co.uk/, who granted Jess Grant Celebration £100 to put towards the purchase of this instrument for the children at Ipswich Hospital.
We are pleased to announce that the online auction of Brian May signed items raised a total of £669 for Jess’ charity from the sale of 4 items. Thank you to everyone who bid and to the lovely people who bought the books, who have been a pleasure to deal with this week. Sadly, due to a change in circumstances, the 5th book sale fell through. Fundraising is really tough right now, so we’ll keep it safe and re-auction it as part of next year’s activities.
Thank you so much again to Brian May and his fantastic team for donating the beautiful books and signed bookplates, and for all the help in promoting our auction. It was wonderful to see Jess’ charity centre stage on Queen’s official website for a while, right next to Queen & Adam Lambert news. Jess would have been so embarrassed, but I think a little proud too.
Jess Grant Celebration are delighted to let you know that our Patron Brian May has supported Jess’ charity by donating some fantastic items for our online auction at https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/jessgrantcelebration
Thank you so much to Brian for providing us with 5 of his amazing books, each with signed bookplates. The auction is LIVE between 23rd September and 3rd October, finishing the same day JessFest should have been taking place this year. 100% of the money raised will go directly to Jess’ charity, with every penny supporting music therapy.
Many thanks to the extremely talented Tyler Warren @tyler_fn_warren for a fantastic gig last night. Beautiful songs, mostly his own tracks, and a stunning rendition of Queen’s ‘39 for his final song. Jess would have absolutely loved his gig. We are so grateful to Tyler for choosing Jess Grant Celebration to benefit from his performance and for raising awareness of Jess’ charity. An amazing £270 was raised from the gig! Thank you so much to everyone who has donated to Jess’ charity after watching Tyler’s wonderful gig, and for all the kind messages of support we have received from all over the world x
Thank you so much to the Woodbridge Festival of Art and Music Committee for selecting our charity to receive the very generous donation of £300 from the money raised at their first festival held in August 2019. We are extremely grateful to family friend Becky Hamilton-Wright for nominating Jess Grant Celebration for this donation. Henry Creagh, one of the festival organisers, very kindly had the following to say about Jess Grant Celebration: “It’s a great cause and an inspiring idea to be able to help people, especially children through music in this way, and just the kind of thing that the festival is all about.”
Thank you very much to Henry for providing the following information about the Woodbridge Festival of Art and Music, its aims and their plans for this year’s festival. We will keep everything crossed for them that they are able to hold this year’s festival at some stage.
“The Woodbridge Festival of Art and Music was set up to be a creative event for the town that would inspire and encourage arts and creative industries in the local area, and give audiences a high quality experience of local, national and international acts. We also wanted to inspire the next generation of artists by getting local schools and organisations involved in the festival, and by raising money for creative education for young people in Suffolk.
As well as being multi art form, diverse and accessible, we also have a strong sustainability message both in the way we do things at the event and through collaboration with local green organisations.
Under the present circumstances, (which I’d like to but can’t avoid mentioning), we do hope to put on an event in the town once its safe to do so. Because we’re fairly small, and mainly voluntary, we think we can do this at short notice once the moment arises, so please watch this space.”
We are delighted to let you know that the Cake Sale organised by the Allisons raised a staggering £340. Thank you so much to Jess’ friend Laura and her Mum Caroline (fellow Trustee of Jess Grant Celebration) for bravely taking on this cake sale in their own house and making all the cakes for the huge amount of friends and family who supported their cake sale. And they’re still managing to look calm and smiling in the photo before it was about to start!
The tremendous amount they have raised is truly the icing on the cake, as the grand total for both cake sales now stands at £826.00. A wonderful total, huge thanks to everyone who supported both cake sales ♥️
Thank you very much to everyone who helped to make yesterday’s Cake Sale such a lovely afternoon. We were blown away (not just by storm Dennis!) by the amount of support Jess Grant Celebration received yesterday. An incredible total of £479.50 was raised thanks to the brilliant turnout and everyone’s generous donations. Cake, tea and good friends…Jess would have loved it ♥️
Thank you so much to everyone who braved the elements and came along and supported. It was lovely to see so many familiar faces, and also to welcome some new friends of Jess Grant Celebration.
A massive thank you to everyone who helped at the event. It really would be impossible to put on an event like this without the help and support of all the lovely friends who offered to help out.
Many thanks to all the bakers for all their hard work. What an amazing array of delicious cakes we had on offer.
We would like to thank Cedarwood School, Jess’ primary school for all their support. Not only did they offer their fantastic facilities, but the Parents and Friends of Cedarwood very kindly donated some beautiful cakes to our event.
Finally (before this turns into an Oscars Award speech) more very exciting cake news is on its way! Another Jess Grant Celebration cake sale was very kindly held yesterday by our good friends the Allisons. We’ll be thanking them properly and letting you know the grand total from our cake sales very soon….