Helping a worthy cause with 12Guitars and the Teenage Cancer Trust

We are proud to share the good news that we have helped get musical instruments into the hands of young patients at The Beatson Institute in Glasgow. Social enterprise 12Guitars has gifted guitars strung with Rotosound strings and equipment to The Teenage Cancer Trust ward to assist in their music therapy activities.

“They already had three acoustic guitars in their ward but none were playable, with broken and rusty strings”

“12Guitars serviced and restrung these guitars with strings from our partner: Rotosound strings”

Supporting the community and helping good causes have always been passions of ours at Rotosound. So when we were approached by Glasgow-based social enterprise 12Guitars in 2020 we were enthusiastic about donating strings to this charitable project.

12Guitars are on a mission to enable young musicians and other people in our society needing a boost by donating free guitars and providing guitar tuition free of charge at the point of use. Established in 2019, 12Guitars has already created quite an impact with many young people, youth groups and support organisations having donated dozens of guitars and having delivered many great guitar tuition sessions. Director Ken Morton explains:

“12Guitars is delighted to be in a position to support the Teenage Cancer Trust and their ambitions for providing music therapy as a core activity to their young patients. The UK music charity Music for All kindly donated a number of very high-quality guitars to 12Guitars for us to distribute to worthy causes. When we approached the Teenage Cancer Trust at The Beatson in Glasgow, we couldn’t have been more welcomed by Julie Cain, the Advanced Clinical Nurse Specialist, and her inspirational team. They already had three acoustic guitars in their ward but none were playable, with broken and rusty strings and needing some work. 12Guitars serviced and restrung these guitars with strings from our partner: Rotosound strings. They are now back in the ward ready to play again. This was then followed up with the 12Guitars donation of high-quality electric guitars (received from Music for All) together with suitable amplifiers and equipment.”

The Teenage Cancer Trust ward at The Beatson now has five fully functioning guitars

Ken continues “12 Guitars is delighted to have started this pilot scheme at the Teenage Cancer Trust ward at The Beatson and it is our ambition to reach out to all the other Teenage Cancer Trust Wards and outlying support staff in the UK. This is so we can donate further guitars and provide tuition services so all teenagers who are patients will have additional opportunities to participate in music therapy. We have been in discussions with Regional Operations and Partnerships Manager; Vanessa Todd at the Teenage Cancer Trust and sincerely thank her for her amazing support to get this programme started.”

Find out more about the Teenage Cancer Trust’s music therapy here: https://www.teenagecancertrust.org/about-us/our-story/music

About 12 Guitars

12 Guitars is a social enterprise formed in 2019 in Glasgow. We make guitar playing accessible to young people free at the point use. We have engaged over 200 hundred young people since our formation and have given away or loaned dozens of guitars. We have converted a double-decker London bus into a practice and recording studio, learning space, meeting place and guitar tech workshop. We are based in the Glasgow Caring City Warehouse at 249 Govan Rd, close to the BBC, The SSE Hydro and The Science Centre.

Website: www.12guitars.org

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