Guiding Star composers Jay Serrao, left, and Adam Wilson

IT’S not too early for Christmas at Islington mental health charity the Stuart Low Trust, where staff are hoping for a festive number one with their original song Guiding Star.

With a sound compared to the likes of Elton John and Wham!, Guiding Star leads with the message “you’re never alone”, and it is part of a campaign that seeks to shine a light on men’s mental health.

Archway resident Jay Serrao, who co-wrote the single and works at SLT, said: “If this song means that more people in Islington know about the Stuart Low Trust, that is a victory for me.”

Mr Serrao came to SLT after his own experience of depression. In 2016, as news of a European refugee crisis dominated headlines in the UK, he was inundated by painful memories of his own.

Mr Serrao grew up in Kuwait, but his happy childhood was thrown into chaos when Iraq invaded in 1990 and his family became refugees overnight.

Bill Dury performing poetry at the Cally Festival

He told the Tribune: “You read about it, you watch films on it, and you still don’t realise that you are, in fact, a victim of depression. It just creeps on you.”

As well as his work as an accountant at SLT, Mr Serrao is a singer-songwriter whose band, Whiskey General, has shared the stage with big names like Scouting for Girls, The Feeling and Ms Dynamite.

It was at last year’s SLT Christmas dinner that he jokingly suggested to the charity’s CEO, Mark Gillham, that they produce a song.

Much to Mr Serrao’s surprise, the idea took off from there.

Guiding Star went on to be recorded at Universal Music Studios and mastered at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.

There is also a music video in the works, starring Bill Dury – whose father is the late rock punk legend Ian Dury – who runs creative writing classes at the SLT.

Mr Dury found the charity through his own mental health struggles, after a sudden spinal injury two years ago meant that he had to learn to walk again.

His GP directed him to the SLT, where he now runs poetry sessions.

Mr Dury said: “People call it mental health but I love to call it emotional health.

“I’ve always felt a tremendous connection to my feelings since I was very young. I think everyone has that, it just gets quieter and quieter if it doesn’t get heard.”

Guiding Star has been released to mark the SLT’s 20th anniversary and staff hope it can raise £20,000 for the charity’s work.