“It’s the product of months of hard work, weekly sessions and even a rock’n’roll tour! It’s a gig, it’s an arts event, it’s a sensory explosion, it’s a celebration. It’s loud and proud, bold and beautiful.“

Electric Umbrella is an all-encompassing, Watford-based music project for adults with learning difficulties in Hertfordshire and has run two seasons of professional music sessions and club nights since 2012, attended by more than 700 people.

But now the funding that the group originally received from Three Rivers District Council has come to an end, but the momentum and interest in the project hasn’t. So founders and organisers Tom Billington and Melanie Boda need your help.

They are inviting music lovers and the community-minded to donate to the project, which involves 12 weekly sessions of songwriting, recording, rehearsing, event production and marketing and PR to young adults with learning difficulties, lead by a team of professional musicians.

The project culminates in a club night, which involves the group providing lights, smoke, projections, live artwork to form a musical extravaganza that takes place next March.

“The young adults get to be part of a real band,“ says Tom Billington, the professional musician from Watford who came up with the idea.

“The last time, we had the guy who wrote the Girls Aloud album, Gloria Gaynor’s bass player and the drummer from Spandau Ballet – all people I’ve worked with professionally. So it’s a real gig, it’s not just putting on a disco in a community centre. There’s this real sense of being part of something.“

Tom and Melanie, an artist and former Community Arts Development Officer for Three Rivers District Council, feel so strongly about the project that they have already begun running the sessions, even though they haven’t secured the £5,000 funding they need.

“We knew we had to get it up and running,“ says Tom, “the guys get so much out of it – they’ve made these amazing friendships, and they get to do all these things, it’s a big deal for them. So we’ve booked all the dates and we’re just going to assume that the money will come, that’s how passionately we believe in this.“

  • If you would like to donate to Electric Umbrella, visit kickstarter.com/projects/ electricumbrella/electric-umbrella or facebook.com/electricumbrella