A YORK-based children’s charity will receive national publicity via a BBC TV appeal, presented by Dinnerladies and Shameless actress Maxine Peake.

Jessie’s Fund will be featured in a BBC Lifeline Appeal which will be aired at 2.05pm on Sunday on BBC One, and again at 2.30pm on Tuesday on BBC Two.

Actress Maxine, a patron of the charity, will present the programme, which will be a chance to see some of the amazing children and young people the charity works with.

The ten-minute programme will provide a unique opportunity to catch a glimpse of how powerful music can be for children who have complex needs.

Whether an individual child is in music therapy, or a class in a special school is interacting in a specialist music session, music can open pathways to communication and learning.

Jessie’s Fund finances music therapy projects and works in special schools and children’s hospices throughout the UK.

The charity helps seriously ill or disabled children by using music as a form of expression – the majority of these children are unable to communicate verbally.

Jessica George, a musical little girl who lived in York all her life, was nine when she was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour. She died at Martin House, the children’s hospice in Wetherby, a few months later.

Her parents, both classical musicians, set up Jessie’s Fund as a registered charity in her memory, to fund projects helping severely ill children and young people through the power of music.

Lesley Schatzberger, Jessie’s Fund director and Jessie’s mum said: “Communication is one of the most basic needs of all humans.

“The children we work with struggle to communicate, and some have no means to express themselves at all.

“Music is a powerful way in which they can connect with the world around them.

“On October 25 there’s a chance to witness moments of this on BBC TV.”

The programme will also be available on iPlayer after the broadcast.

Maxine took over the role as the charity’s patron from her Dinnerladies co-star Victoria Wood, who held the position for 17 years until her death in 2016.