Well-known Scottish musician Colin MacIntyre (Mull Historical Society) has been appointed Mary’s Meals London coordinator, the charity’s first regional post in England. Prior to his appointment to this new post, Colin had been active over a number of years in contributing his time, energy and organisational skills to supporting fundraising events on behalf of Mary’s Meals and had visited Malawi to see for himself just what an impact Mary’s Meals was making on the ground.
From his London base, Colin will be overseeing activities across Greater London and the surrounding counties. His focus will be to support and co-ordinate the work of the expanding team of volunteers who represent Mary’s Meals across the south of England, helping them with their work organising fundraising events, speaking to schools, businesses and community groups, and collecting resources for our backpack project.
Colin is currently spearheading Mary’s Meals emergency appeal for East Africa in the South of England. The charity had been feeding thousands of children in the drought affected region for years before the latest disaster struck. It is currently involved in getting food to the heart of the crisis in Somalia to stop people fleeing their homes in search of aid.
Colin Macintyre visiting Mary's Meals Projects in Malawi
Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, Mary’s Meals’ founder, says: “We are delighted to welcome Colin as our first regional co-ordinator in England. The creation of his position is a response to the huge efforts that our supporters are making for Mary’s Meals. We are very grateful for the work that volunteers do on our behalf and are committed to ensuring that they receive proper support.”
Colin’s background is in music, as the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer behind 5 successful albums to date, both under the moniker of ‘Mull Historical Society’ and in his own name. He hails from the Isle of Mull in the Scottish Hebrides and has achieved four Top 40 UK chart singles and two Top 20 chart album successes, and has been voted Scotland’s ‘Top Creative Talent’ at the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards and into many British ‘Albums of the Year’ polls. He has built up a loyal and widespread fanbase, performing worldwide and also at many charity events, and his experience organising and promoting events has already proved valuable to Mary’s Meals. He helped arrange and performed at Mary’s Meals Music, a concert in Glasgow’s Fruitmarket last year which featured stars including Jon Fratelli and Eddi Reader.
Colin also has first hand experience of Mary’s Meals school feeding work, which currently stands at 570,000 children receiving meals every day in their place of education, having visited Mary’s Meals in Malawi last year. “The visit was a chance for me to see what Mary’s Meals is doing on the ground – and to encounter the amazing spirit of the volunteers and children in Malawi. It showed me that not only is providing food for children in school very simple, it is life changing and life-enhancing. I’m looking forward to being part of that work and bringing my creative organisational experience in campaigns and galvanising supporters to the work of the charity in London and the SE, and feel a sense of pride that it is based in my home county of Argyll. As my ‘MHS’ song says, ‘Come on and join us, join us now!’”
Colin will continue to record and perform alongside his work with Mary’s Meals. His new (6th) album “City Awakenings” marks a return to his ‘Mull Historical Society’ moniker, and is due out in January 2012 on Xtra Mile Recordings. A portion of the revenue from the album’s pre-sale orders will be going to Mary’s Meals: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/colinmacintyre.
Click here to read an interview with Colin about his visit to Mary’s Meals projects in Malawi. http://bit.ly/n6cPeA
http://www.youtube.com/user/marysmeals
