When Mencap first approached me a couple of years ago about doing these gigs I said no. Their initial idea was to do three nights at a big concert venue. I thought about it for ages and ages, and then decided it was too huge an undertaking, then a few months later they came back to me with a new proposal; a series of acoustic gigs at the Union Chapel - a venue I have always loved - and I was irresistibly drawn in.

Little Noise Sessions was born.

I don't think any of us could have predicted the huge amount of support the music industry has given Little Noise Sessions. In our first year we had a line-up to match any festival, with the likes of Noel Gallagher, Chris Martin, Amy Winehouse and virtually unknown (at least in 2006) acts like Newton Faulkner and Mika.

I have been incredibly touched by the number of artists who have offered to take part - with no fee - in what is, for many, a radically different set from what they're used to: drumsticks swapped with brushes or hot rods, string quartets instead of electric guitars and everything stripped down to the bare minimum (council noise restrictions imposed on the church mean that the sound levels must not exceed 85db!)

I love the atmosphere - it gives you that magical, tingly feeling, like a Christmas Eve service. The bands are usually more nervous performing here, they're more used to stadiums and clubs. When they're about to go on stage, they look like they're off to face a firing squad. The audiences are so much less rowdy than they'd usually be - all talking in whispers because the acoustics pick up everything. By the end of the night though, everyone is jumping around, hands in the air - it's like an evangelical meeting.

Backstage, it can be pretty surreal. In one room you might have a theatre company rehearsing panto, in another you have the bands practising. On certain days of the week there are boy scouts running around the corridors. Last year I spotted some massively excited, giggly Girls Guides peeping in at Luke from the Kooks!

I am an ambassador for Mencap partly because my sister Frances has a learning disability. Frances, who's 3 years younger than me, has Cri Du Chat syndrome, which is a condition with lots of complicated symptoms. She couldn't speak until she was 10. We're very close and, like me, Frances has a huge love for music. She can spot a hit a mile off and likes anything with a massive chorus - from ABBA and The Spice Girls to Show Me the Way to Amarillo.

One of my biggest achievements this year has been helping my mum set up The Rockin' Roadrunner Club, a club night in Northampton for people with learning disabilities. It's just like any normal club night with loads of people dancing and having a great time, but for many people the club is a totally new experience - they've never had access to anything like it before. Mum has had such moving thank you letters from parents and carers - I'm so proud of her. Frances Djs at the club. She really looks forward to it and takes it incredibly seriously. Its totally her gig - in fact I can barely get near the decks to put a record on!

It's club nights like these, and other arts based projects, that money raised from Little Noise Sessions will help fund, so huge thanks to everyone who has supported this project, whether that be performing on stage, or buying a ticket for the shows.

We hope you have enjoyed watching them as much as we've enjoyed putting them together and hope to see you in 2009!