When Daniel was younger, he was on the cover of our Journal! His mum Jackie recently got in touch with us to let us know how Daniel is getting on over 30 years later. Together, they have written this blog for us about Daniel’s life and an exciting event at the Royal Albert Hall in April…
My name is Daniel Camacho and I play the drums. Some people call me ‘Dan the Drummer Man’.
30 years ago, when I was 3, I was on the cover of the Down’s Syndrome Association Journal in a t-shirt emblazoned with “I have a Future”. Well, I thought I’d tell you what I am doing now!
Because I love music so much, I attend The Music Man Project UK in Essex run by Southend Mencap. David Stanley is the Musical Director and I travel the country with the him and the other Student Ambassadors delivering workshops and inspiring other people to start up groups. There are now Music Man Projects in Kent, Suffolk, Sussex and beyond.
We also tour locally and perform in primary schools in and around Southend. David Stanley says: “It’s not just about awareness, it’s about providing role models for the children.” We are building up quite a fan club and receive rave reviews!
This is me and some of my friends: Daniel, Sam, Graeme, Chris, Sam, Wendy, Ian, Claire, and that’s me with the Snare Drum; Daniel!
We are all so excited because we have a show coming up! On Monday 15 April we will be at The Royal Albert Hall to perform “Music is Magic!”
Tickets start at just £12.70 including booking fee and can be bought online here.
The concert will see 200 Music Man musicians with a Learning Disability from around the country on stage. They will be supported by The Lorraine Kelly Orchestra and community choirs.
We will perform our own songs and then David Stanley has written us a musical called “Music is Magic in Space”. We celebrate 50 years of space travel and will show everyone what we can do. We hope to inspire you and have you joining in with us, singing and signing our songs.
I hope you can see that I’m enjoying my life as a musician so much, and I’m still looking forward to the future! See you at The Royal Albert Hall!
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A big thank you to Daniel and his mum Jackie for writing this blog. We hope the performance at The Royal Albert Hall goes well!