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Chair of Trustees Christmas Letter

2025 marks our third full year as a charity and it has been by far our most impactful. The growth in the charity’s reach has been incredible. I’ve outlined some of the headlines below: 


  • Part funded over 600 hours of music lessons. (More info)

  • Part funded over 400 hours of rehearsal sessions for young artists through our partnership with Bookshop Studios. (More info)

  • Invested £1,700 in creative arts educational courses for young artists including a new partnership with Sound and Music and their 12 month ‘In The Making’ course. (More info)

  • Distributed 400 Plaza Cinema tickets to local schools, community centres and youth programs. (More info)

  • Provided staging & multiple local artists for the 2025 Crosby Christmas Lights Switch-on. (More info)

  • Fully funded regular taster sessions for 100+ young people to be introduced to keyboard, guitar and ukulele.

  • Continued to host our monthly Songwriters & Storytellers sessions at Bramble Berries Coffee Shop featuring guest workshop hosts and performance opportunities for all attendees. (More info)


The projects above have led to us breaking the £10,000 barrier for investment into young people’s creative arts development across Sefton and its surrounding areas in 2025. I am delighted that, due to expected donations, grant funding success and some exciting funding avenues we will be able to let you know more about in 2026, we have been able to commit to this level of expenditure for the next few years. 


At our recent annual budgeting meeting with trustees Danny & John, the three of us were taken aback by the generosity of those who have supported the JBT this year. We have a record number of people who are supporting us through monthly direct debit, this is such a valuable way of supporting the charity as it helps us budget throughout the year. If you would like to consider this method for 2026, follow this link:


 

Whether you’ve donated your hard-earned money or, just as importantly, your time to the JBT this year – thank you so much. 

 

The JBT has reached a level of impact this year that has, at times, pushed our trustees time and resources to the limit. Across the four years that have elapsed since we agreed to set up the charity, as a trustee body we have welcomed two dogs, three weddings and eight house moves. All our trustees either work or study full time, this means that charity business has to be conducted in lunch breaks, after work and over weekends. Every month at our trustee meetings I am astounded by how hard they work to make sure the charity continues to celebrate Jacob’s memory and serve our young people’s creative community.  

 

Thank you to our trustees Abbie, Adam, Danny, John, Oliver, Sam M and all the volunteers that have helped the JBT thrive in 2025. 

 

It is through a combination of the generosity of our stakeholders and our desire to continue to reach new heights in 2026 that we have this month announced our very first paid role- ‘Jacob Billington Trust Activity Facilitator’. This role will help the JBT become more visible across our sector’s network meetings, which often take place during typical working hours, and will also make sure we are offering the young people who attend Songwriters & Storytellers the highest standard of creative input we can achieve. If this role interests you or someone you know, the link to the application form can be found here:


 

We are at that point in the charity’s journey that we are beginning to see some of the young people we have supported over the last three years take the next step in their creative journey. Whether that be starting bands, attending creative arts colleges and even beginning university courses in songwriting and production – the young people who we have worked alongside over the last few years have made all the hard work outlined above so incredibly worthwhile. 

 

Thank you to the young people who attend our workshops, perform at our events and are always willing to represent the JBT with professionalism, talent and joy. 

 

It is this last message in particular that brings me back to the heart of why our charity exists. I know that Jacob would be so proud of all the work that his sister, friends and wider community have put in to create these opportunities for young people, but at our latest ‘Songwriters’ session I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness that he should have been in the room with us, it is after all; his community, his family.


In our hearts however, Jacob does live on through all that we do at the JBT, that is a commitment we made many years ago and a sentiment that Abbie so beautifully shared in her message this September: 


‘’Jacob was loud, funny, charismatic and a genuinely lovely person. Energy like that doesn’t just disappear. It’s in each and every one of us and it’s only going to keep getting bigger’’ 

So, this Christmas, wherever you are spending it and whoever you are with – be as loud, funny, charismatic and lovely as you can be.  


From all of us at the Jacob Billington Trust, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. 


Sam D’Auvin 

Chair of Trustees 

Jacob Billington Trust 

 
 
 

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