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Disability music charity sets sights on Broadway

Elliot Deady/BBC Two women smiling and looking straight at the camera with their arms around each others shoulders. They are both wearing blue polo shirts and jumpers.Elliot Deady/BBC
Wendy Wilson and Claire Alderton are ambassadors for the Music Man Project

A group of musicians with learning disabilities has set its sights on New York City and hopes to perform on Broadway in memory of a murdered MP.

David Stanley, who founded the Music Man Project in Essex 25 years ago, said it was his ambition to take about 30 musicians to the Big Apple to perform a two-hour show.

The Conservative MP for Southend West, Sir David Amess, supported the charity for several years before his death in 2021, and spoke of his dream to fly the group stateside.

"In his memory we want to perform on Broadway to show that good can overcome evil and have a lasting legacy of something truly unique for musicians with learning disabilities," Mr Stanley said.

Elliot Deady/BBC A man smiling while looking straight at the camera. He is wearing a blue hooded jumper.Elliot Deady/BBC
David Stanley founded the charity 25 years ago

The charity, which now has groups across England, has started fundraising to turn Sir David's dream into a reality.

It previously performed at the London Palladium, the Royal Albert Hall, and with the Royal Air Force band in front of 20,000 people at the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo in Canada.

"Everywhere they've gone, they've just blown the audiences away and it's proved they can travel and they can perform and they can cross those international barriers," Mr Stanley added.

The Music Man Project was one of eight Essex-based organisations to receive the King's Award for Voluntary Service on Thursday.

It is equivalent to an MBE and is the highest national recognition for voluntary organisations.

Claire Alderton, who has performed with the group in Italy and Canada, said she was proud to be an ambassador for the charity.

"Having a hidden disability, I had a lot of trouble with that at school, but I just feel like Music Man is somewhere I belong and they all like me," she told the BBC at the Salvation Army Church in Leigh-on-Sea, where the group rehearses twice a week.

Her friend Wendy Wilson, who joined the Music Man Project 20 years ago, said she loved singing and encouraging other people to get involved in music.

"I have made loads of friends," she added.

Gareth Fuller/PA Media Three people wearing blue polo shirts and a man wearing a black suit pulling a black sheet off of a statue of Sir David Amess on Chalkwell seafront. They are joined by a man in a grey suit. Two houses are in the background.Gareth Fuller/PA Media
Members of the Music Man Project helped unveil a statue of Sir David Amess earlier this year

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