Thank you everybody!
James Rhodes’ nationwide Don’t Stop The Music instrument amnesty has come to an end – and what an exciting journey it’s been.
From a small seed, this ambitious project to get the public’s unused instruments to schools has grown and grown – completely exceeding all our expectations. In total, just over 6,500 instruments were donated by the public – worth over £1 million – and our warehouse was full to bursting with treasure chests of donated instruments, sheet music and education resources from Oxfam and sheet music publisher Hal Leonard which were sent to 150 schools around the UK where they’re badly needed.
But we didn’t do it alone. This was a huge, joint effort made possible by the generosity, time and passion of many key partners and supporters. Like an orchestra, everybody had a vital part to play – and the results were amazing…
First of all, a huge thank you to everyone who donated an instrument (or instruments) to the amnesty.
We were astounded and moved by your generosity and passion for sharing your love of music with the next generation.
The schools who've received their instruments are equally delighted:
"Our instruments arrived today. There are 10 brilliant flutes and a massive drum kit. Some of the Y6 boys have already asked if we will do lessons! The flutes have some lovely messages in them. We will record a thank you, but I can’t believe how generous people have been!"
"Words cannot express how grateful we are for the 5 guitars, 2 trumpets and recorders. They are all at a very high quality and the children are thrilled. It opens up so many opportunities for our children. Thank you so much. We will get practicing and sort out a performance next term."
Our amnesty partner Oxfam played a critical role, offering up its 700 shops around the UK as drop-off points for donations. Its staff and volunteers worked tirelessly to promote the amnesty, register donations and wrap instruments up for collection. What a wonderful network of people!
The amnesty's official parcel carrier Yodel Direct did a brilliant job collecting instruments from the Oxfam shops and transporting them to the Don’t Stop The Music assessment hub – and then delivering instruments to the participating schools. Yodel CEO Dick Stead even donated his own clarinet to the cause.
Big Yellow Self Storage made a huge space in West London available as a base for the Don’t Stop The Music instrument assessment team. The hub was soon full of instruments, cardboard boxes, experts in repair and restoration – and lots of cups of tea and biscuits…
StorePAK helped us ensure that the instruments arrived safely, providing fantastic Don’t Stop The Music-branded cardboard boxes to Oxfam shops for collecting donations – and to the amnesty hub for the final deliveries to schools.
And finally a great big thank you to all the musical experts: the strings technicians, woodwind specialists, brass specialists, percussion pros – including the whizzes from Yamaha and Dawkes Music – who worked incredibly hard to get instruments assessed, repaired and packaged up in record time. Thanks to Universal Music for their support with the repair and restoration process. Visit our music technicians Facebook gallery to see some of the crew who made it all possible.
The Don't Stop The Music amnesty may be over, but you can still make your instrument count and change people's lives. Let’s keep the goodwill flowing, let’s keep the music playing! #DontStopTheMusic
