Albums signed by Coldplay raised around £4,000 for Frome’s young musicians through a raffle organised by the town’s record shop.
Ahead of Coldplay’s headline performance on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival in June, the band held a private rehearsal at the Cheese and Grain the day before, causing much excitement and speculation among local residents.
Richard Churchyard, owner of the Raves From The Grave record shop that hosted the raffle, said that Coldplay wanted to help raise money to enable young musicians to buy time in the Bert Jansch Studio located behind the Cheese and Grain.
“The Coldplay team approached us and asked if we’d be up for it, which was a no-brainer as it involved working with one of the globe’s biggest bands while also raising some money for a local charity,” explained Richard.
“We picked the winners from the prize draw and all winners have been contacted. About half were shipped out and the others collected from the shop. We thought about putting the records to auction but decide that we could be more inclusive and involve a lot more people with a prize draw, rather than just sell to the person with the most money.
“We love new music and new music often comes from the youth. If we can help young people have an opportunity to get some studio experience that usually might be out of their reach, then hopefully that might encourage them to pursue music and they could be the next Ed Sheeran or Taylor Swift!
“It’s fabulous that we have a top-class studio in Frome that allow these opportunities to the young people in the town.”
The raffle raised £3,827 but Richard said the shop is going to round up the figure to £4,000.
