Eight weeks to learn to DJ. One night to get it right!

On Friday 14 November, I will be standing behind a pair of decks at the Royal Yacht, in front of a very large crowd, trying hard to look like I know what I am doing.

I have been given a place in the 2026 White Collar DJ Event, raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support Jersey. Eight weeks of training. One live set. Nowhere to hide.

Learning to DJ properly has been on my list for years. Doing it for Macmillan Jersey is what makes it worth the nerves.

Why this charity, and why me:

As a physiotherapist, I have worked alongside people at every stage of a cancer diagnosis. The shock of the first conversation. The long grind of treatment. The slow work of rebuilding strength afterwards. And, for some, the final part of the journey.

I have also seen what happens around the person. The partner who has stopped sleeping. The adult children trying to organise things from another country. The friends who badly want to help and have no idea how.

What has stayed with me is how much difference the right support makes at the right moment. Not only the medical care, but someone who explains things properly, someone who sits with you, and someone who picks up the phone when you do not yet know what you want to ask. That is what Macmillan Jersey does, and they do it extremely well. I have the greatest respect for the people who do that work.

Two things you may not know about Macmillan Jersey

1. They offer support to every islander diagnosed with any form of cancer.

2. They are completely separate from Macmillan UK. Every pound they spend has to be raised here, on this island, by islanders. That is close to £1 million every single year.

No local fundraising, no local service. It really is that simple.

What I am asking

A few pounds. Whatever you can spare, and it all goes to exactly the same place.

1. £10 — feels like this is just about the price of a pint right now, and it adds up remarkably quickly when enough people do it

2. £25 — a genuinely meaningful contribution to a charity that has to find every penny locally

3. £50 — if that is comfortable for you, it makes a real difference to the total

And if £5 is what you have, give £5. Small donations are the reason these totals move at all. The only donation that does not help is the one that gets thought about and never made, so if you are considering it, now is a better moment than later.