YAMSEN:SpeciallyMusic was a voluntary charity formed in 1979 by a group of people who recognised a need for more music in special schools. Originally called YHAMSE (the Yorkshire and Humberside Association for Music and Special Education), the early associaltion organised training and workshops for staff and one-off big events for those with special needs.
New events were added over the years in response to requests from members, including the Lord Mayor’s Annual Town Hall Christmas Carol Concert, and Big Music Days at Breton Hall, which then became an annual summer music day in various venues, including the EST Donkey Centre and then West Park.
We later began to include events for adults–annual Ceilidhs and music days became fortnightly workshops.
All of these ideas have been expanded to leave us with a full annual programme of big music days and also a weekly calendar of activities.