Dear Friends,
2026 is the 10th Anniversary of my charitable foundation, and I have been delighted with all the wonderful support I have had from friends and colleagues like yourself. Everyone has been very supportive and very generous and I owe everyone a huge thank-you.
This milestone has seen the foundation help so many children and young people in the North East via our funded projects.
This year, to celebrate our 10th anniversary, we have planned 10 varied and exciting fundraising events for 2026. I can confirm that the following have already been agreed …
A Magic Cabaret with the brilliant Chris Cross on February 13th
A “Rock and Raise a glass” wine tasting night on March 6th
My annual “Celebrity Golf Day” on May 19th
A Gala dinner at the Hilton Hotel on November 28th.
And we are close to finalising another six events during the year.
I do hope you will be able to support some of these events and help celebrate a decade of improving lives and outcomes for young people in our region.
It has been with great pleasure and pride to see the Music Therapy Centre literally rise from the ruins of the old ‘Matron’s Lodge’ at The Fleming, ground broken by our friends the Kaiser Chiefs and officially opened by Sting and now, ten years later, delivering life transforming music therapy.
It has also been wonderful for me personally to continue to support the Children’s Heart Unit (CHUF) by providing some of the most up to date, state of the art, medical equipment to continue the great work they do saving young people’s lives.
A third project we support is NUCASTLE – we donated money to fund a dedicated classroom in the Newcastle United Foundation, Community Hub, which has helped hundreds of young people – since the launch it has delivered 753 sessions from Employability to Health and Wellbeing.
This month, we will be unveiling our fourth main project – a new ‘Tyneside Talent Unit’ at Tyneside Cinema. We have refurbished the whole of the 2nd Floor at the cinema and will provide a free-to-access creative hub offering industry-standard facilities and mentoring to young people aspiring for a career in the film, television and screen industries.
In addition, we continue to donate money to smaller projects around the region.
We could not have done this without your fantastic help and I will continue to cover all the costs of the charitable foundation to ensure that every penny we raise will go to these great causes.
I do hope you can help support the charity this year, in any way you can , no matter how small, and help us to achieve our goals of helping , educating and inspiring as many young people in the region as we can.
Thank you again for all you have done so far and I am sending you my best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.
Graham