Rosie’s Rainbow Fund supports sick and disabled children in hospital, school and in the community. Rosie’s Rainbow Fund runs music therapy sessions at the John Radcliffe Children’s Hospital Oxford, the Royal Berks Hospital in Reading and Stoke Mandeville Hospital. We offer bereavement support for families after the loss of a child. In the John Radcliffe Children’s Hospital, we have an aromatherapist working three days a week, treating the extremely stressed parents of long stay and terminally ill children.

In the community we provide music therapy for special needs children in schools and centres around Berks, Bucks and Oxon. We also support disabled children in schools and respite centres with essential equipment.

The trustees of Rosie’s Rainbow Fund have personal experiences of the stress families undergo when a child is seriously ill and in hospital for months on end, and have personally experienced the loss of a child. The charity emerged from an identified need to support children and families in distressing circumstances and to try to alleviate some of the strain.

‘Jake woke up feeling grumpy this morning and when Andy arrived with the musical instruments, his face lit up. I joined in with the music, it was lots of fun – it really joined the ward together!’ Sinead, Mother of Jake, Stoke Mandeville Hospital, 12 March 2012

‘The music is a lovely idea. The kids really enjoyed it and it took the pain away from Lauren’s leg’. Mother of Lauren, Stoke Mandeville Hospital, 26 March 2012