The 1772 Charity marks 250-year anniversary with £25,000 donation to set up a music programme for mothers in prison and their children

  • The 1772 Charity celebrates its 250th anniversary with an award of £25,000 to establish a music programme for mothers in prison and their children
  • The programme will be established by Changing Tunes, a specialist music-based rehabilitation charity with over 30 years of experience engaging prisoners and ex-prisoners.
  • The project will support the wellbeing of mothers in prison helping strengthen the relationship with their children

The 1772 Charity was established 250 years ago to provide relief for people and their families imprisoned in England and Wales. To mark this important anniversary the 1772 Charity has made a £25,000 award to Changing Tunes, a specialist music-based rehabilitation charity, to establish a music programme for mothers in prison and their children.

The music programme will support the wellbeing of mothers in prison and safely facilitate meaningful connections between them and their children, helping to reduce the adverse effects of maternal imprisonment to children and families. The donation will enable Changing Tunes to establish the specialist programme at two women’s prisons, HMP Eastwood Park and another female prison and beyond this, look to tailor the programme to fathers in prison and their children. The CEO for Changing Tunes, David Jones, said:

“The £25,000 donation by the 1772 Charity will enable us to establish a programme for mothers in the prison system, and their children, to experience the life-enhancing benefits of music-making and help them lead crime-free lives that are meaningful and creative”

The 1772 Charity began in 1772 for the ‘discharge and relief of persons imprisoned for small debts throughout England and Wales’. In its first year the Charity provided relief to 2,389 children of people who were imprisoned. Over the next 250 years the 1772 has awarded more than £1.5 million in grants and helped change the lives of hundreds of thousands of men and women across the UK.

To mark its 250th anniversary the Charity Governors considered it important to emphasise the core values of the Charity with this one-off donation to support a project focused on mothers and their children impacted by the criminal justice system. The 1772 Charity will continue its annual programme of awarding grants to charities which support young people at risk and the relief of offenders and their dependents.

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