Tag Archives: charity

What’s Inside World Autism Awareness Week

Autism – most of us have heard of autism and a fair amount of us probably think we know what is meant by the term autism, but do we?  There are a huge range of issues faced by people with autism and one of the problems causing difficulty is a lack of understanding amongst the wider public which is where World Autism Awareness Week (WAAW) comes in.  Brought into being by the National Autistic Society (NAS) to highlight World Autism Awareness Day on 2 April, WAAW, which runs 27 March – 2 April 2017, aims to further raise awareness and understanding in public attitudes.

This year, the charity is being helped with it’s annual campaign by up and coming music duo The Beautiful Secret, whose new single, What’s Inside, is the anthem for World Autism Awareness Week:

Released tomorrow, the song shows ‘what’s inside’ Katie-Rae, shown in the video.  Katie’s aunt, Rachael Hawnt, is one half of The Beautiful Secret (alongside Ashley Cutler) and after hearing Katie say that “no one ever listens to me”, wrote What’s Inside in response.  Rachael said about Katie-Rae, “she has autism and learning difficulties and had many fears and phobias from the get-go. She has struggled with social situations and depression all of her life, but she is still a strong and loving person with a fantastic artistic flare and a big, big heart.  We wanted to write a song to help raise funds and awareness for autistic people. The first person I went to talk to was Katie-Rae; I told her I wanted to write about the way she felt, a real perspective from a real autistic child.”

The fundraising and awareness aspect of teaming up with the National Autistic Society came later and is something that Katie-Rae herself feels very proud of. Speaking this week, Katie said “I’m not brave enough to get the word out there myself so my aunt is doing it for me…it makes me happy that it’s going to help people”.

Highlighting understanding is the key to both this song and this year’s World Autism Awareness Week and Katie-Rae’s own words encapsulate perfectly the issues she and many other autistic people face on a daily basis.  Speaking about school, Katie told me that

No one cared how we felt, people thought we were crazy.  We’re not crazy, we’re just different.  People didn’t really understand, even the teachers, until Miss Young helped us explain to the other teachers how we feel and how we think.

The fundraising head of NAS, Kate Donohue, agreed that “very often, young autistic people felt that no one ever listened to them”, which is why the song is so powerful.  To have Katie-Rae appearing in a video highlights just how powerful the song is – and also shows how brave this young lady is, despite what she thinks.

What’s Inside, by The Beautiful Secret, supporting the National Autistic Society is available here:

All proceeds go to NAS.

Click here to find out more about the fundraising and awareness work of the National Autistic Society.

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Wish Alfie Boe a Happy Birthday!

September is over half way through and that means that it is nearly Alfie Boe’s birthday!  Yes, on September 29th, Alfie will be 43…and getting younger every year!

If you would like to post Alfie a birthday message, pop it in the form below and it will be featured on a new Message to Alfie page next week:

This video is from the Classic BRIT awards in 2013 and I chose this video as it was just a few days past Alfie’s birthday and a group of fans were there to see this breathtaking performance and give him our own birthday card.  Amazingly, he then tweeted a thank you alongside a picture of the card…still gives me goosebumps thinking about it now.

Definitely one of my top Alfie moments!

This year, as he has done for the previous five years, Alfie is fundraising for music charity Nordoff Robbins in honour of his birthday (click here to find out more about the charity). Overall, Alfie fans have raised over £8600 and of this year’s fundraiser, Nordoff Robbins CEO, Julie Whelan, said

We are thrilled that our long-standing ambassador Alfie has chosen to dedicate his birthday to us at Nordoff Robbins again this year. This initiative has raised crucial funds for our services and has really helped to raise awareness of our work over the years. Alfie first started supporting Nordoff Robbins in 2011 and we are so proud to be able to say that we have his continued support to this day.

If you would like to donate something to celebrate Alfie’s birthday, click here to go through to Nordoff Robbins – you can choose Alfie Boe as a reason for donating.  Let’s see if we can raise more than the £1719 we raised last year!  Go Alfie Boe fans!

Don’t forget there’s still time to enter our competition to win a Sunflower Jam DVD featuring Alfie singing I Wanna Know What Love Is and othersclick here to enter.

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Alfie Boe Says Time for Tea with Trinity

When Alfie met Sarah, according to his autobiography, he was making a cup of tea, so who better to back the start of Trinity Hospice’s annual Tea Party campaign?  Of course, Alfie Boe is the patron of the Fylde Coast’s hospice, which also encompasses the children’s hospice, Brian House and he is very supportive of the continuous fundraising efforts needed to keep services going each year.  Since Alfie became patron, Trinity has seen a marked increase in donations from outside the local area and their press officer, Shirley Morgan, says that “we couldn’t have a better patron; we really appreciate the global audience he brings and to top it all, he’s such a nice guy.”

Shirley also shared a little bit of fundraising trivia with me: when analysing their social media reach for 2015, the message with by far and away the most reach and engagement was the tweet in which two Classic Quadrophenia tickets were auctioned off.  A massive 17,000 people were reached by that one tweet!  The closest tweet reached 9,000 people so it perfectly demonstrates how much Alfie’s support means.

Annually, £5 million is needed to fund the hospice and in the last two years, over £30,000 has been raised by tea parties.  That’s a lot of tea and cakes! So what does that money provide in terms of services?  What difference do our individual donations actually make? Well, £10 provides art materials for someone to make a memory box for their loved ones, £150 runs Brian House for one hour, £500 provides eight bereavement sessions for a family and £1,500 means that a child can stay over the weekend, providing much needed respite care for both the child and the family.  All donations are another step closer to the overall target of £5 million.

So, how can you support Trinity’s Tea Party in 2016?  Hold a tea party and donate by clicking here.  Don’t forget to mention that you’re an Alfie Boe fan and it’s a tea party donation.

If you’d like to join in a virtual tea party, just click here to join the Official Alfie Boe Facebook Fan Group and details of the event will be posted shortly.  See you there!

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Alfie Boe and Nordoff Robbins

Celebrities these days usually have a number of charities which they support and Alfie Boe is no exception.  Many of his charities are long standing associations and one of these is the music therapy charity, Nordoff Robbins.  Alfie became an ambassador for Nordoff Robbins in November 2011 following his win of the PPL Classical Award at the 2011 Nordoff Robbins O2 Silver Clef Awards. His ambassadorship was launched alongside the 2011 Christmas appeal which he spearheaded.  Since then, Alfie has dedicated his birthday to the charity and his fans have responded with enthusiasm, raising the huge amount of £8605 in five years.  Wow! Click here to see what that means for the charity.  In response to this amazing effort from fans, Alfie said “Once again I’m overwhelmed with the generosity shown by fans who have donated to Nordoff Robbins in honour of my birthday. I’m passionate about music education and therapy and I really appreciate every single donation. It’s the best birthday present ever”.

So, who are Nordoff Robbins?  Although the fundraising charity is now celebrating it’s fortieth year, the foundations of the therapy itself go back to 1959 when Paul Nordoff, an American composer and pianist and Clive Robbins, a special education teacher first developed collaborative music making which they termed ‘therapy in music’. Over the next fifteen years, this therapy was developed and delivered all over the world with the first centre opening in South London in 1970.  Programmes for adults began in the latter part of this era.  Since then, the charity has grown and grown and is now the largest single music therapy organisation in the UK, dedicated to transforming the lives of vulnerable and isolated people.  Although Alfie’s special area of interest is providing music therapy and education for children, this is by no means the only group to be helped.  People with dementia, depression, terminal or chronic illnesses and people with brain injuries are also amongst the recipients of the specialist therapy available.  In some cases, music therapy is part of palliative care.  In addition, the families and communities of those who receive therapy are also helped,  thus ensuring a broad reach approach.

As if all this wasn’t enough, Nordoff Robbins also delivers Masters of Music Therapy (MMT) training in both London and Manchester as well as accessible training and short course programmes for people who want to learn more about music therapy.

In order to provide these services, the charity relies on fundraising efforts from individuals and events such as the Silver Clef Awards and the Music Industry Trust Awards.  In 2016, Nordoff Robbins are the official charity partner for the BRIT Awards, held on 24 February.  Free downloads of the live performances will be available on the night, with Google Play Music  donating the costs to the charity.  Last year’s charity received £250,000!

Click here to find out more about Nordoff Robbins and here to find out more about Google Play Music at the BRIT Awards.

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Win Classic Quadrophenia Tickets via Trinity Hospice!

With just four days to go until the world premiere of Classic Quadrophenia starring (as if you didn’t know) Alfie Boe, there’s a chance to win a pair of tickets to see the sold out show!

In his role as patron of Trinity Hospice, Blackpool, Alfie has donated the tickets as part of the hospice’s 30th birthday celebrations – nice one Alfie!

Auction now closed.

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Friday Round Up with Alfie Boe: No. 12

Another busy week for Alfie – lots of radio promotional appearances (both live and recorded) which means the Classic Quadrophenia PR machine is cranking up big time.

Most of the radio chat centred around the forthcoming Quadrophenia in great interviews with James Watt of Radio Stoke, Andy Potter on Radio Derby and Stephen Foster of Radio Suffolk.  Interesting discussion (with Andy Potter) on what crossover means – according to Alfie (and it’s something he’s said a lot before), crossover means the fans crossing over to discover different types of music.  It’s not a genre of music by itself!

Thanks to Marcia six are now on you tube:

Also, this week, Alfie added to his charitable causes by becoming the patron and music champion of BD Music Hub.  This comprises a group of partner organisations who work together to ensure that that the children and young people of Blackburn and Darwen get as many quality musical opportunities as they can, both in school settings and in the community.  Click here to see more about what they do.

Along similar lines, Alfie has also lent his name to the Blackpool Gazette’s Give Us A Tune music appeal which aims to subsidise music lessons for students at Blackpool Music Academy.  They are asking for 50 musical instruments and £20,000 to be donated to ensure a lasting music legacy in the resort.

Classic Quadrophenia can be pre-ordered here:

classic quad

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Alfie Boe Joins BD Music Hub as Patron

Great news today! To add to his ever growing portfolio of charities, Alfie Boe is now the patron and music champion of BD Music Hub (Blackburn with Darwen Music Education Hub).  This is a collection of partner  organisations who work together to ensure that that the children and young people of Blackburn and Darwen get as many quality musical opportunities as they can, both in school settings and in the community.  Partners include BBC North, Blackburn Cathedral, Manchester Camerata, More Music Morecambe, and online instrument learning platform, Gigajm.   Blackburn with Darwen Music Service is the lead organisation.

So why Alfie? Well for a start, he’s a Lancashire lad and hugely passionate about music education, not always having had opportunities when young (his autobiography mentions him not being allowed to do music at school as he didn’t play an instrument).  In addition, his back story is one which resonates with many of the youngsters who would benefit from the programme.  Famously, he was discovered singing in the TVR factory as a teenager and then successfully auditioned for the D’oyly Carte opera company.  Alfie then went on to train at the Royal College of Music in London. A stint at the Vilar Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House followed, before the bright lights of La Boheme on Broadway beckoned.

Alfie openly speaks about how important music is in schools and how it is vital to give youngsters performance opportunities, both formal and informal – exactly what BD Music Hub are trying to do.  Alfie is someone who has worked hard, taken the musical chances which came along and continues to be an inspiration for those who know him.  As Music Champion, Alfie will act as a musical role model for the children and young people and inspire them to achieve.

 

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Alfie Boe Joins Utah Benefit Concert

Tuesday 27 January saw the announcement that Alfie will appear in concert in his adopted home state of Utah on 14 March 2015.  The concert will be held at Utah Valley University UCCU Center and tickets are on sale now (click here for the ticket vendor).  Alfie will join local artists Lexi Walker, The One Voice Children’s Choir and We Are The Strike as well as the Utah Stars and Friends orchestra to raise money for the Elizabeth Smart Foundation and Operation Underground Railroad.  Updated 6 Feb 2015: click here to see Alfie mentioned in Huff Post article (not mine!) about the Elizabeth Smart Foundation.

This is the second year in succession that Alfie has performed in a Utah charity concert; in June 2014 saw him appear in a fundraiser for the Children’s Center Utah.  Again, the charities involved raise funds for children, in this case, children who are victims of abduction and trafficking.

The photo used in the press release is from Serenata – the audience is in for a treat if he sings those songs!

Click here for the original article including a short video (no Alfie though!).

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Alfie Boe Supports Trinity Hospice Hoodies

Alfie Boe’s charity work has been documented here before, especially his work with the Trinity and Brian House Hospice’s on the Fylde Coast.  The hospice’s latest fundraiser is a Trinity Hospice hoodie, available in three colours:

trinity hoodie

Click on the hoodie above if you want to be like Alfie and get one – if you are outside the UK they would  have to add a few pounds for overseas postage, depending on the destination.  Shirley Jones, from Trinity Hospice said:

Alfie has a navy blue one, but we have aqua and pink. He very kindly signed a hoody for us to offer in a prize draw for our staff at the hospice who couldn’t get along to the launch at HMV.

What a lovely chap he is too. He had a photo taken with every single person in the queue at HMV and had a genuine interest in everyone. Lots of people here have bought tickets for the tour.

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Friday Round Up with Alfie Boe

Welcome to the first edition of Friday Round Up with Alfie Boe – all this week’s Alfie Boe news at a glance!

This week has seen Alfie once again pairing up with Classic FM – his new album, Serenata has been John Suchet’s Album of the Week and Alfie took part in the Wednesday Web Chat too.

John Suchet played:

Addio Sogni Di Gloria

Non Ti Scordar Ti Me

Arrivederci Roma

Volare – apparently this 1958 song came third in the Eurovision Song Contest for Italy!

Rondine al Nido

Thursday saw Alfie record the Royal Variety Performance for the first time since 2010 – we get to see the show sometime in December.

He even found time to attend a charity gig for the Teenage Cancer Trust and post a pose for the Alzheimers Society (challenged by Arlene Phillips):

Alfie alzheimers pose

 

Alfie was also been busy this week doing more interviews, this one is from BBC London – thanks for sharing Marcia!

And a rare chance to hear Alfie’s vocals as Opera Dude on Clint Boon’s music – Clint tweeted this on Thursday: