News: Apollo beats the drum for Jessie's Fund

A child playing on a keyboard

Knaresborough based Apollo Creative is pleased to announce that it will be supporting UK charity Jessie's Fund throughout the course of 2008 as their nominated charity of the year.

Jessie’s Fund is a UK charity set up to help seriously ill and disabled children by using music as a form of communication and for therapy. The charity works with children with special needs within hospices, hospitals and other centres for children with special needs providing a wide range of musical instruments and giving children access to creative music-making and music therapy.

Communication is a basic need for all but for many children verbal interaction causes difficulties; some have no means of communication at all. This therapeutic use of music can provide a powerful and profound way in which these children can express themselves and connect with the world around them.

Lesley Schatzberger, Development Director for Jessie’s Fund said – “Jessie’s Fund is delighted to have been chosen as Apollo Creative’s Charity of the Year. We use music technology in our work and have seen how powerful it can be in giving children access to a creative outlet. For those who have little chance to participate in normal childhood activities, technology can provide a fantastic means of expression, and Apollo’s work in developing further the possibilities resonates so well with our own aims.”

Mark Hildred, Creative Director for Apollo Creative adds – “With music and interaction being such an important focus for Apollo Creative this year, Jessie’s Fund was the ideal match. As a drummer I am aware of the importance music plays in my life and to me the value of the work carried out by Jessie’s Fund is immeasurable. Over the next twelve months we hope to be able to bring this charity to the attention of even more people so that its work can be recognised across the UK.”

Official opening of Sensory Room at Whitley Park School

The portable sensory room installed at Whitley Park Infant School was officially opened today with a reception. Since the initial installation last week, all 320 children at the school have been through and experience the area.

Ann Tanner, Headteacher, commented:

"We are excited at Whitley Park to be given the chance to explore with the children the possibilities for learning this brings. We aim to create stimulating learning opportunities for the children, develop their language and create wonderful learning environments that give them a sense of the world around us. Themes including seaworld, space, gardens, and jungles come immediately to mind but others will emerge as the staff team explore the possibilities.

"We are privileged to be part of this project and we will do our best to help 'KidsOut' provide more of these portable sensory rooms for other children across the UK. Our plan is to extend the use within our local community to the two Children's Centres in Whitley, for children to visit the room and have fun exploring it. My thanks to Mark and Kevin for the design, ideas and for making this dream a reality."

Me, Myself & MRI sessions start

Today was the first official session in Archbishops Holgates School, York for the 'Me, Myself & MRI' project. Following on from the introduction we carried out before Christmas, the young people today got the oppotunity to visit the York Neuro-Imaging Centre (YNIC).

A key part of the work is to involve the young people in both the arts and science side of the project. You can find out more on the project blog.

Portable Sensory Room

Today we built the prototype of the Portable Sensory Room at Whitley Park School in Reading. Funded by KidsOut, the room will be undergoing tests at the school over the next few months. It is hoped that the feedback from these will help us develop the design of the space.

Coloured lighting and background sounds are controlled by the Apollo Controller, with users inserting a USB stick to activate the different themes. Other lighting effects are controlled by front panel switches.