Herefordshire Music Fund Relaunch – 28th March 2019

Some years ago, Jonathan Godfrey OBE, then Principal of the Hereford Sixth Form College (now a Director of the Hay Festival), launched a fund to provide bursaries for music tuition, primarily for Sixth Form College students. This has now been relaunched as a separate charity managed by Encore, the organisation that provides music services to all Herefordshire schools. The fund has the same goal of providing bursaries to anyone in the County who would not otherwise be able to afford music lessons. I was honoured to be a host of this relaunch event at the Sixth Form College. Before the relaunch event itself, we were treated to a wide variety of music treats from Poulenc to Guns N’ Roses and all points in between.

The Event was attended by the Dowager Countess of Darnley, Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Herefordshire and a number of Mayors from the market towns of Hereford. The audience was primarily made up of a formidable of array of the movers and shakers in the musical world of the County. A purpose was to raise money for the fund but, more importantly, the hope is that the audience would organise musical events that would also raise money for the Fund.

The Ambition is to be able to support 40 young people every year. It would take 200 people £5/month to achieve this, £12,000 in total or £300/per bursary. As the leaflet says “Every donation goes towards helping young musicians develop their talent and overcome the financial and social barriers they face”. It is a very achievable goal which, I hope can easily be surpassed.

Here is a link to the Herefordshire Music fund web-page. At the bottom you will see how to donate. I believe passionately in the power of music of all types to help give young people confidence, appreciate beauty, work as a team towards a end greater that the sum of the parts.