The day was a wonderful reminder of Amy’s sublime talent, her music, and of course the legacy she leaves with the Amy Winehouse Foundation.

Speakers at the event included the musician and film-maker Don Letts, founder member of Culture Club, Jon Moss, guitarist from The Specials, Lynval Golding, and grime artist and television star Big Narstie. Each spoke with heart about how synonymous Amy is with the London Borough of Camden, how much she is missed, and how much her music has endured.

And a major part of the day’s celebrations focused on the work of the Amy Winehouse Foundation. Our trustee and former mayor of Camden, Councillor Jonathan Simpson, spoke of his pride at being involved with our charity – and drew particular attention to the work we do with vulnerable young women, and the vital support given by our brilliant team at Amy’s Place.

But perhaps the most memorable quotes of the day came from Amy’s family. Her father Mitch and mother Janis expressed their delight at how many of Amy’s fans had travelled to be part of the event, and at how great it was to know that she means so much to people.

”Now this is a big honour,” Janis told reporters. “It’s for everyone – but Amy, god bless you.”

“This is a wonderful honour to be bestowed on our darling girl”, Mitch added. “It’s another reminder that she’s no longer with us physically, but she’s certainly with us spiritually.”

Both also spoke about the work being done in Amy’s name. “When Amy died, we could have pulled the duvet up and tried to hide away”, said Mitch. “But we didn’t. I know that Amy wanted us to create something positive. And we have with the Amy Winehouse Foundation. It is doing so much good for young people in this country and abroad, and I am certain that Amy would be extremely proud of it”.

After the unveiling, which included a wonderful tribute by pupils from Camden’s Haverstock school, the celebrations moved to a venue in Camden Stables – where two graduates of our Amy’s Yard scheme performed to the assembled crowd. Tasha Dean and Porsha Chanelle both sang beautiful tributes to Amy and her music, receiving rapturous applause. “The Foundation did so much for me”, said Tasha. “I’m very grateful to be here, singing for you”.

“It was a wonderful day, and a wonderful tribute to our much missed Amy”, said Jane Winehouse. “We are extremely proud of the work we do in her memory, and would like to thank everyone who supports us. Without you, we wouldn’t have come this far. And it’s with your help that we’ll go even further, helping so many vulnerable young people to achieve their potential in life”.

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Amy’s Yard Live is a new monthly night at BOHO where Amy’s Yard artist and friends will take to the stage to share an eclectic mix of sounds and styles, showcasing some of the fantastic talent who have graduated from our music programme, in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

So far the events have been a huge success, and each of our artists have impressed audiences with their individual styles and sounds. The atmosphere has been full of love and support as always, and we are so happy to be able to share this with our friends, family and supporters.

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With hundreds of original entries, it was so hard to choose a winner, because it was clear just how much love had gone into each and every entry. The task of choosing from the final shortlist was down none other than Salaam Remi, Amy’s manager and AWF trustee Raye Cosbert and president of Island Records and AWF Patron, Darcus Beese.

The competition was launched back in October, on the 10^th anniversary of the Back to Black album release. The producers of Amy’s multi award winning album, Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi reworked the production of four tracks from the album, which fans could access online and then record their own versions to upload to YouTube.

We cannot express how grateful we were for all of your entries, it means so much that so many of you took the time to record your versions of Amy classics, with such love and passion for Amy and the work of AWF. We would also like to say a big thank you for our campaign partners; Island Records, Vevo, YouTube and Twitter, without whom we could not have made this such a success and fitting celebration of Amy and the Back to Black album.

“I have been in tears since I saw the Facebook post!!! I really can’t believe this. Such an honor. I am so very grateful! Cannot thank you guys enough for this opportunity. Long live Amy.” Brittany Butler

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Available through the official Amy Winehouse Vevo channel, each video features a link where fans can download the backing track and create their own version and submit it as part of a talent-finding competition.

Amy’s longtime collaborators and friends Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi produced the songs and are now patrons of the Amy Winehouse Foundation. They will be judging the entries and picking a winner who will have their performance recorded and filmed in a studio and premiered on the official Island Records YouTube channel.

Island Records and Vevo will be donating all funds from the campaign to the Amy Winehouse Foundation. Since her tragic passing in 2011, the charity, created in Amy’s name, aims to help vulnerable young people facing a variety of complex issues such as homelessness, drug & alcohol addiction, mental health conditions and unemployment.

Our most recent project is Amy’s Place, a women-only recovery house in East London. Since its opening in August 2016, the house provides a lasting legacy of support for young women aged 18 to 30, recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. The project helps them to reintegrate into society with the best possible opportunity of sustaining their recovery. It is one of the few women-only recovery housing projects in the country.

The Amy Winehouse Resilience Programme is a groundbreaking drug & alcohol awareness and prevention programme for secondary schools. Evaluated by academics at Harvard University and delivered in partnership with Addaction, the programme is currently delivered in well over 100 schools across the UK.

Another vital project, Amy’s Yard, helps ‘to support the personal development of disadvantaged young people through music’. Amy’s Yard is a 12-week AQA accredited programme supporting talented young people to develop greater self-awareness and personal development as artists and as individuals, while enhancing their education, training and employment potential within the music industry and beyond.

With the funds raised from this campaign, the work of the Foundation can continue with our important work, and with Amy’s legacy.

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As part of our fifth birthday celebrations, the NME spoke with two graduates from our Amy’s Yard programme.

Over a 12 week period, our programme provides vulnerable 18 to 25-year-old artists with the skills to become self-sustaining musicians, and the participants – who can be dealing with a variety of issues such as homelessness, mental health, unemployment or substance misuse – leave the course as self-sufficient artists.

You can find out just what an opportunity that was for graduates Shamus and Kenan, over at the NME’s website.

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A huge thank you to everyone who’s been part of our journey and who’s supported the work we’ve done so far – all of it in Amy’s memory.

Below, you’ll be able to read what just a few of those people have had to say about the Amy Winehouse Foundation Some faces you may recognise, such as Amy’s mum and dad. Others you may not, but they are testament to the life-changing work we’re able to do – and all because of people like you.

We’re extremely proud of what we’ve been able to achieve so far, and how we’ve been able to improve the lives of so many vulnerable young people. That we can continue to do this because of support we receive means the world to us. Thank you.

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Five years ago this month, we set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation in order to join the fight against drug and alcohol problems among young people.

As a key part of that work, we joined up with the treatment charity Addaction and created the Amy Winehouse Resilience Programme for Schools. Our research showed that the kinds of drug and alcohol education that was taking place in schools wasn’t anywhere near as effective as it could be, so we created something new. In our model which runs at selected schools across the UK, trained and accredited volunteers use their own experiences of substance misuse and recovery to educate students, parents and teachers about the real reasons why young people may misuse substances and what can be done to prevent it. These volunteers have all overcome significant personal issues and now live substance free lives, contributing to society and helping others to make wise and informed choices. And it is that honesty and truth – about the underlying feelings and root causes of substance misuse problems, that has made all the difference.

Our new report shows just how effective that work has been. It is one of largest research studies of its kind, evaluating 17,000 young people engaged with the Resilience Programme. The results show the vital importance of skills development programmes around alcohol and drugs.

• 89% of pupils said they found the programme useful to them. Only 4% said it was not useful.
• 76% of young people said their knowledge about drugs, including “legal highs” had increased.
• 73% of young people said their knowledge about alcohol had increased. 75% of young people said they were more con dent about making safer decisions about drug use and 73% said the same about alcohol use.
• The Programme helps participants to develop skills to manage self-esteem, risky behaviours and peer pressure.The evidence shows that ability and confidence to manage these areas plays an important role in young people’s decision-making around substances.
• 91% of pupils said they were now well informed that they could seek confidential help in the event of being concerned about substance use, peer pressure or bullying.
• 79% of pupils said that they would be more likely to avoid risky behaviours relating to substance misuse.
• 83% of pupils said they would seek out support for alcohol or drug issues.
• 77% of pupils said they would definitely not use drugs in the next six months.

We are now calling on the Government to put in place effective, evidence-based prevention wok across all schools in the UK. Our research shows that it can improve life chances for young people, and truly have an effect on the problems of drug and alcohol misuse.

You can download a copy of our new report, Real Life Experience: Results and Recommendations, here.

This morning (12th September, 2016) Jane Winehouse appeared alongside Addaction on BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme to talk about the results of the study, the Foundation’s anniversary and about the resilience programme. You can listen to that interview here (from 2h52m) until the 10th October, 2016.

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Opening in East London on Monday 22nd August, the house pioneers a programmewhich addresses the specialist needs of female addicts, which are often more complex than their male counterparts. The project also highlights the need for a new approach to support female addicts.

Named ‘Amy’s Place’, the house will provide a lasting legacy of support for women to reintegrate into society with the best possible opportunity of sustaining their recovery and building a fulfilling life.

Amy’s Place will be one of the only projects in the country to bridge the gap between women leaving addiction treatment services and finding independent accommodation. Women in recovery are often overcoming abusive histories and need a safe place to recover before embarking on a new life.

Women at the scheme will be provided with temporary homes in one of 12-self-contained apartments and supported using what is known as a co-production model, giving them shared control over the services that aid their recovery.

The model was shaped with the input of young women in recovery and also those addicts living in an all-female rehabilitation centre in south London. From their feedback, Centra and the Amy Winehouse Foundation have created a 3-month programme for new residents, which will comprise of 4 groups a day encompassing holistic activities such as Yoga and Reiki as well as relapse prevention groups.

Research shows that women have a far greater chance of relapse without this kind of support. In an American-based recovery house model including a sample of 293 women, it was found that addicts who stayed at the recovery centre had significant lower substance use rates (31%) versus the usual aftercare system (65%) (Jason et al, 2007).

Despite more women entering addiction treatment services, there is only one other all women recovery house in London where the waiting list exceeds six months and just a smattering around the country. Out of the several hundred recovery-housing beds in the UK, only 1% is a woman specific.

Jane Winehouse of the Amy Winehouse Foundation said: “This project will make such a profound difference to so many young women, enabling them to have a safe environment in which to re-build their lives and put into practice all the learning they have acquired through their treatment journey. Fresh starts are difficult to make; full of challenges, but at Amy’s Place we will give young women the tools and support to help them make this a reality.

There is a huge lack of support to meet the needs of women in this area and we hope ‘Amy’s Place’ will show just how much more effective we can be.”

Centra and the Amy Winehouse Foundation have developed the new recovery house, which will help up to 16 young women. The residents, who will have all completed a programme of rehabilitation for drug and alcohol abuse, will be provided with temporary homes, mentoring and workshops by the Amy Winehouse Foundation and Centra Care and Support to help them rebuild their lives in the outside world.

Michelle Davies, Regional Business Manager for Centra Care and Support, said: “This innovative new recovery model will provide high quality support to help young women with a range of needs live independently after leaving residential facilities for drug and alcohol treatment. We want to empower young women to remain in control of their recovery by providing safe and secure homes, personalised services and a vibrant community that will build on their strengths, experiences and preferences.

“We are incredibly proud to be working alongside the Amy Winehouse Foundation to develop this important new service. It is one of a number of community-based services run by Centra Care and Support which supports vulnerable people to gain independence and establish a new and permanent home.”

Centra is part of not-for-profit organisation Circle Housing.

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This week Jane Winehouse, together with Tuba Mazhari from our Prevalence Study team, visited Fleetwood High School in Lancashire to meet students who have recently taken part in our Resilience Programme Prevalence Study. The main aim of the Study, funded by the Big Lottery, is to identify current trends in substance use. This information can then be used to demonstrate the necessity for high quality drug, alcohol and mental health education in schools to commissioners, local and central government officials, and be used to develop more targeted and effective support and treatment services for young people in the future.

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Children at The London Centre for Children with Cerebral Palsy are finding a ‘new voice’ with music thanks to a new therapy programme set up in Amy’s name.

The Amy Winehouse Foundation is proud to have given a £7,450 grant to the centre, which is based in Muswell Hill in North London. This grant will pay for music therapy sessions which help to improve wellbeing and communication among the children who take part.

“The Foundation is very proud to be continuing Amy’s legacy through the music therapy at LCCCP. Some of the children are unable to communicate verbally due to their disability, but music helps them connect to the world around them. We have seen the joy on the children’s faces when they engage through music and we have heard from both parents and teachers just how important this is to the children’s development.

We are particularly please to have been able to extend the programme further this year by also providing sessions for toddlers and younger children’.

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