In Harmony are a brilliant charity based in Norwich who use Music as a means to give children the self-belief to rise above their deprived up-bringing. Felsted School Music Department have made a commitment so support them this year by twisting people's arms to do a Sponsored Grade-1-athon and in a moment of weakness I found myself agreeing to do Grade 1 singing . . .

Those of you who know my workload this year will know that this was a totally insane decision! However, I do have a little bit of 'previous' in singing, so decided to level the playing field with others who were genuinely taking up a new instrument by not starting practice till one week before the gig. Unfortunately that strategy has backfired a little because the first four days of the one week proved so busy I've still done nothing. So, with three days to go, I am just starting work on my pieces, which I need to learn by heart by Wednesday. Luckily I've got nothing else out of the ordinary on in the next two days (oh yeah, beyond trying to upgrade the car on Monday and going on an all day course on Tuesday) . . . so I think I may have levelled the playing field slightly more than I intended!

Can I still pull it out of the bag?! If you think I can, please get out your credit card and give generously! If you think I can't, please, er, do the same. Your gift could be used to help a young child in a deprived area of Norfolk play the violin extremely badly, but with a HUGE GRIN on his or her face.