We are deeply saddened to hear of the death from cancer of bass player Andy Baker – one of Jessie’s Fund’s key musicians over the last 20 years or so. Andy seemed to be at home performing in almost every genre of music, whether classical, jazz, folk or rock. This...
As the final months of our 30th Anniversary celebrations arrive, we are reflecting on what the future holds for Jessie’s Fund. Our mission is to give every child with a life-limiting illness or complex Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) a voice through music. The question is: how can we...
Exciting developments are coming to our schools programme. We have been granted funding from Paul Hamlyn Foundation for the next three years to improve the sustainability of our impact in schools. We will be working alongside our musician team and school partners to create an accreditation framework for specialist school...
Have shares which are uneconomic to sell? Help support us by donating your small shareholdings to ShareGift, the share donation charity. ShareGift is an independent UK registered charity (No. 1052686) which specialises in releasing the money locked up in small shareholdings, but accept donations of any size. ShareGift specialise in...
We are pleased to announce that our two-day training course is returning in November. We will be running the course in York (10th-11th) and London (17th and 18th) and we look forward to welcoming our next group of music makers. It is a practical, hands-on course that is suitable for...
We are delighted to announce that our Founder Lesley Schatzberger has been awarded an OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours List 2025 for Services to Children with Life-Limiting Illnesses and Communication Difficulties. Lesley shared:  “To say that I was surprised to be awarded this honour is an understatement, and I...
We returned to York Festival of Ideas on Saturday 7th June with our talk ‘Making Sound Waves: Musical Transformations.’ We last spoke at the festival in 2015 as part of our 20th Anniversary celebrations and we were delighted to be back for our 30th! In this talk, our Founder Lesley...
We’re delighted to announce that we’ll be featuring on Givto in July. Givto is a new way to donate to charity that allows users to give to a different cause each month with one simple Direct Debit. The service was developed by volunteers in Leeds who wanted to support local...
We had a wonderful time at our 30th Anniversary Conference at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester on 3rd April 2025. It was a full morning, from Lesley’s introduction sharing Jessie’s story and the creation of Jessie Fund, the group Hey Dumba samba with Mark Withers, Charles Hazlewood’s...
We celebrated our 30th birthday on 25th March 2025 by reaching our Big Give Arts for Impact campaign target of £5,000! Thank you to everyone who has donated to our Big Give campaign. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported us in any...
