Grand Gesture From Piano School

A care home in Ramsbottom is among a select few that have received a brand new piano thanks to the fundraising efforts of an innovative piano school.

Keys Piano School, based in Bolton, provides high-quality music education for over 300 students in the area.

Their recent fundraiser raised £6,778 which they used to purchase six pianos and percussion instruments for local care homes.

Lavender Hills Care Home, part of the Millennium Care Group, was one of the lucky recipients.

The home will greatly benefit from the donation which will be utilised by their Group Music Ambassador who leads music therapy sessions for its residents.

The unique role facilitates individual and group sessions for residents across Millennium Care homes. Sessions are focused on encouraging musical conversations which have had a positive impact on residents.

Beth Forster-Peter, Millennium Care’s Group Music Ambassador, said:

“We’re so grateful for Keys Piano School, their students and all those who supported their fundraising efforts. The quality of the piano and the instruments are amazing and our residents at Lavender Hills will benefit greatly.

“Our aim is for music to become part of the fabric of our homes, sessions improve emotional wellbeing, encourage social interaction and ultimately enhance the quality of life.”

Jeni Warder, Managing Partner at Keys Piano School, said:

“We did a few performances at care homes, and we wanted to do this on a more regular basis, but a challenging factor was these homes didn’t have pianos. We were taking electric pianos but this was very limited and our children are advancing quickly!

“We wanted care homes to have access to the music all the time and create links between them and local musicians. We’ve started a Sponsored Practice to buy five pianos, but it snowballed, so we were able to get six and some additional instruments!

“We’re very much a community and a big family, to extend that into the local community is really important and it’s a privilege to support the six homes.”

Four students from the school delivered the instruments, some music-inspired artwork, performed and met residents at the home.