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Our brother Neil was autistic and lived at Devonshire Place in Norwich, which offers supported living, for 17 years.  He was extremely happy here and grew to be much more independant.  There are many group activities offered and Neil was always very keen to sign up for them. He was particularly passionate about the music appreciation group that took place weekly at Norwich Arts Centre. The group's concept was simple - each person takes turns to choose a song, the group listens to it and appreciates it! There was no pressure to provide any context or for the person to speak about their song although if they did want to explain why they chose it, what it meant to them, this was encouraged. It was a safe environment where people could share their favourite music without judgement, while also providing often much needed social interaction for a group of people who may otherwise find mixing with others difficult.

Neil's musical choices always stood out due to his eclective and unique taste. The songs he chose often united the group by both creating discussion about tunes that many had not heard before or simply by making everyone everyone laugh and smile!  When the group created a joint playlist for a local community radio station, Neil chose the song 'Popcorn' by Hot Butter. The show still exists online and can be heard by the following link below. Neil's introduction to Popcorn can be heard at 25.30.

 https://www.mixcloud.com/futureradio/culture-quests-peoples-playlist/

When the music appreciation group sadly ended due to lack of funding, COVID also struck. We, as a family, would like to help provide funding for this music group to restart as there have been many requests from past participants wanting this to happen. The funding would hopefully provide a music system that could play all formats (vinyl, CD, Tape, MP3) and allow this group to continue in memory of Neil.

This music group would be named the 'Neil Grieve Music Appreciation Group'.

Many thanks for reading

Diana, David, Jock and our families