Guitars on the Beach organisers calling for more music to be taught in schools

The Prince of Wales recently made a "music matters" call and spoke out against the lack of music education in schools.

The team behind Guitars on the Beach (GOTB), a record-breaking event which attracts hundreds of guitar players to Lyme Regis, has joined the drive for more music to be taught in schools, and thanks to the donation of 11 guitars by Anderton's Music Company, one of the main sponsors of this year's event, a new generation of guitarists will be able to join the giant band on the sand next June.

Organisers of GOTB have provided nine instruments to Lyme Regis' Woodroffe School in the hopes of starting a guitar class there.

The guitars were received by head of music, Jon Cullimore, who was told that if students learn to play well, then GOTB will give them a slot onstage at next year's event.

Brian Street, chairman of GOTB and former pupil at Woodroffe School, said: "Like Prince Charles, we're keen for more youngsters to learn music and now, thanks to this kind donation from our sponsor, we can help make this happen.

"We especially hope that students who have never played guitar before will be inspired to become good enough for us to add them to the line-up of bands playing at next year's GOTB."

Organisers have also given a guitar to one of its biggest supporters, 15-year-old Joshua Denning, who has collected donations for the free event every year since in began in 2013.

Mr Street added: "Josh is a local lad who is very proud to be part of GOTB. For years he has raised money for us by walking around all day collecting donations.

"Whether it rains or shines on GOTB, Josh is always there with his collection bucket, and over the years he has personally raised hundreds of pounds for us. we think he's brilliant, and it's because of the work of great people like Josh that our show can go on."

Nick Dixon, a blind guitarist from Colyton, was also a recipient of one of the guitars donated by Anderton's, worth at least £1,000.

Mr Street, who is teaching Nick how to play the instrument, said: "Anderton's kindly gave us a prototype Chapman guitar which they said they wanted to go to a worthy cause, and we can't think of anyone more deserving than Nick.

“His mum phoned me three years ago and asked if I could teach him to play guitar. But after the first lesson I realised this wasn’t going to be straightforward, as he couldn’t see the fret wires it was very difficult to tell him where to put his fingers.

“If you look at a guitar neck you can see there are dots or inlays to indicate frets. As Nick couldn’t see these, I asked him if I could file notches in his guitar’s neck at these position and this modification allowed him to find his positioning.

“I then was able to teach him some simple chords and then some simple songs. He obviously practises and works hard and now he’s picking things up pretty quickly and enjoys playing a good selection of songs including Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’.

“Nick comes to GOTB every year and as he often jokes about how I ruined his old guitar, we thought he deserves this new one.”

GOTB takes place in June each year. The free event sees hundreds of guitarists of all ages and abilities come together and play a selection of well-known songs on the sand at Lyme Regis.