Volunteer musicians playing at the Jail Guitar Doors Symphony-a-thon.
Photo: C Rose
Charity Activities
Jail Guitar Doors
Jail Guitar Doors is a scheme to introduce music projects into prisons. It was set up by musician Billy Bragg. The scheme reduces recidivism and increases educational achievement among prisoners.
On 22nd September, 2007, we ran a Symphony-a-thon with volunteer players and condutcors, and raised £1,600 for the scheme, funding a set of acoustic instruments and keyboards for use in Styal women's prison.
We played: Haydn symphonies Nos 44 and 103; Mozart symphonies Nos 36 and 40; Beethoven symphony No 1, the first three movements of Beethoven 7 and the fist movement of Beethoven 3 (the Eroica). We also played a Foerster horn concerto with soloist Tom Brett and JS Bach's Double Concerto for Oboe and Violin with Karen Mason and Cathy Gough.
Poets from Grange Park School
Red Nose Day 2007
We ran a poetry competition, inviting people to write a poem of 2-30 lines. they could either use the phrase 'This must be my lucky day', or use at least three from a list of favourite words: Lollop - Monkey - Pantaloons - Safari - Titter - Horribly - Riparian -Aloof. Poets were invited to donate and we donated £1 for every poem received. Contributors included a group of pupils from Grange Park School.
Olney-Newton Link
The town of Newton, Sierra Leone
Olney is linked to Newton in Sierra Leone, working on building, training and education projects. The link goes back into history though Olney's famous resident John Newton, rector of Olney and co-author with William Cowper of the Olney Hymns. CRO Ltd has contributed equipment and resources to the campaign, which has widened out from an initial link between the churches of the two towns to include people from all walks of life.
