Welcome back to our Step it Up Campaign, where our aim is to inspire others to become more active in charity work by sharing stories of social responsibility.

Meet Mickey Wynne

Mickey Wynne of www.mickeywynne.com is a songwriter and producer who is currently working on his new album which will hopefully come out in early 2016. Mickey has a substantial catalogue of tracks placed as  TV and film composer Michael Wynne, including David Attenborough’s Paradise Birds and Sky Sports 1 earlier this year. You can hear some of his work at lemoncake.com/account/michael-wynne.

What you do for charities?
“I help in my local church, St Michael’s in Hove, volunteering for tasks they might need: things like helping out at the cafe to take the strain off the other volunteers. Since my son was born over two years ago, I’ve been inspired to write a lot more classical music, and I wrote and donated a piece for them called Hallelujah Chorus. They can use this at events and competitions and hopefully it will be used at the next Brighton Fringe Festival.

I also work on community development on an estate in East Brighton, helping the community with things like how to use resources for publicity, and get more people to attend meetings on things like keeping the crime rate low. It’s odd but people are less committed to attending community meetings when there are few problems, but we still need their support and help, specially in building up good links with the Police.”

How did this happen?
“Volunteering at church was a natural thing for me, and my past community work led me to the estate project.”

Why is this a good fit for you?
“I have experience working with communities and I know how to do things like create relationships between the local shops and the community. So, recently I approached them and asked for  vouchers which we can use as prizes for people who turn up. Everyone benefits and we’ve bridged the gap between business and people.”

 What have you gotten out of it?
“I feel very lucky where I am – literally and in my life –  and it’s my way of giving back.”

What’s your advice to anyone thinking of doing this?
“You can use Google to find out who needs help: just pick something that pulls at your heart. I previously managed volunteers so I know that there are a massive range of reasons for people to get involved. Someone might be doing it to get over a broken heart, others to help themselves connect with others during depression. You can get a lot out of it whatever your reasons.”