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Making Music for Nicaragua

18/01/2010

Four staff and two pupils at Dunhurst, Bedales junior school in Petersfield, bravely accepted the challenge to learn a new musical instrument in eight weeks and to take the Grade 1 music examination, in order to raise money for a school in Miraflor, Nicaragua.

Dunhurst School has been supporting the ‘Escuela Vincente Talavera’ for over a year and has already raised funds for new facilities and the purchase of desperately needed desks and chairs for classrooms.  At an assembly last October, Dunhurst pupils heard for themselves the difference their fundraising has made to the school children in Nicaragua, as Marlon, a community worker told them via video:

'You have no idea how happy it makes me - that just a few people can make such a huge difference to a community.'

Art Teacher, Louise Banks, who is coordinating the fundraising efforts, says:

‘The school in Miraflor is in very bad condition.  The poor light in the classrooms makes it hard for the children to see their work and the roof leaks badly.  They also have no access to clean drinking water.  The money raised from the music sponsorship will go towards raising funds to install a water filter system and build a new solar panelled classroom.  So far we’ve raised £1000 for this next stage of school improvements and we’ll be organising more fundraising initiatives this year.’

 Director of Music at Dunhurst, Kathy Mission, explains further:

‘We had a very friendly examiner who was delighted by the challenge we had set ourselves and appreciated that staff were putting ourselves in the position of learners again and raising money too. It was a very nervous wait through the first part of the holidays to find out if we had been successful but I am delighted to report that not only did we all pass, we collectively obtained the highest set of distinctions I have ever seen!’

Two of Dunhurst’s music scholars, 11 and 12 year old sisters Emma and Poppy Duncan from Stroud learnt the clarinet and viola whilst the teachers learnt to play the double bass, violin and trombone.

Senior pupils at Bedales School also gained impressive marks in their recent music exams.

Director of Music, Nicholas Gleed, comments:

‘Everyone did themselves credit with many pupils achieving excellent results. The most notable distinctions were Tabatha Curry (136 Grade 5 harp); Lottie Gulliver (135 Grade 8 violin); Georgie Gulliver (133 Grade 7 violin and 120 merit Grade 6 piano) but the most astonishingly high and rarely awarded mark was 145 out of 150 to Josie Bentley for her Grade 8 flute.’

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