About Chance Arts...

Who we are

Trustees: David Clark Chairman, Alison Evelyn, Anne Hamerton, Joseph Mannion, Dilys Griffiths Secretary

Chance for Children Trust provides resources and training for people caring and working with vulnerable children and young people.

The Chance Arts team members have qualifications in Teaching, Anthropology, Social Work, Early Years, Counselling, Music, Art, Play and Dance Movement Therapy. All members of the team are regularly checked, through the Criminal Records Bureau, have supervision and continuing professional development training.

Funding & Finances

Funds are generally raised through grant making trusts and foundations. Core funding is always difficult to find and maintain. The Patrick Frost Foundation has supported the trust for over ten years with regular unrestricted funding which is invaluable for the times between programmes when project funding is low.

The Trust has received many awards for its innovative programmes, including major funding from Youth Music for the Play Sing and Move programme for young children under 5. Many of the current programmes take place in High Schools in West London and are funded through the extended schools programmes of the relevant boroughs.

We would like to acknowledge, with deep gratitude, the recent donation from the late Helena Frost. This will enable us to organise programmes for children in years 5 to 7 for the next two years.

History of Chance for Children Trust

Chance for Children Trust was registered in 1991. However this was the culmination of several years' work in the 80s. Nessie (Agnes) Bayley, then a consultant for the British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering, (BAAF), formulated the idea of working through the arts with children in long term local authority care, to re-develop their senses and enable them to communicate in a positive way. BAAF published her In Touch with Children training pack (1989). The rehabilitation work of Dilys Griffiths is highlighted in the pack. With Nessie's encouragement and the support of three founding Trustees, Chance for Children (the name was chosen by the children) was started to provide resources for these children and training for all the adults involved.

Fairly rapidly the Trust broadened out its work to include those children who are fostered and adopted. We received a series of significant grants through the National Federation of Music Societies (now Making Music); £500 from BT, instruments from the BBC's Children in Need; and the Wates Foundation, all of which helped us to establish a positive reputation and develop the Trust. The grant from the National Lottery's Community Fund enabled us to complete three very successful music programmes in partnership with West Sussex Social Services and Barnardos. Collections were taken at Croydon Churches and at concerts given by the London Concert Choir. We also received several generous private donations. The Patrick Frost Foundation was delighted with our work in West Sussex and they have continued to give us unrestricted annual funding ever since, for which we are very grateful.

An interesting partnership with Ensemble Bash, a professional percussion group, led to a programme of workshops and concerts, including an appearance by some of the children on BBC's Blue Peter (1995). One of the main outcomes of these musical activities was the development of the Young Volunteers' training programme. Young Volunteers (YVs) aged 15 to 30 years old who had helped to run programmes received appropriate training in therapeutic arts and concert promotion, with grants from the National Federation of Music Societies (1998) and Carlton Television Trust (2001). Some of the YVs went on to assist the Trust in making a video for Southwark Children and Families team, with young foster children, for children coming into local authority foster care (2001).

This gave Chance for Children Trust a foundation from which to provide a wide variety of programmes and initiatives. There have been huge changes in the provision offered to children and families with subsequent financial implications. Every Child Matters, the government initiative to ensure all children reach their potential, has presented new opportunities and priorities. The Trust's main focus now is its main stream programmes for early years' settings with Play Sing and Move, and for schools and community groups with the Children in Transition programme. Alongside this we continue to be available to support some families who contact us direct.