BBC Music Day celebrates five inspirational Unsung Heroes
The BBC has announced the five winners of the BBC Music Day Unsung Hero Award, launched as part of BBC Music Day (Friday 5 June) to honour the incredible work they do within their local community through music.
Published: 5 June 2015
It is a pleasure to acknowledge and celebrate these five Unsung Heroes, who are all a huge inspiration and responsible for bringing joy to many lives through music. Huge thanks to them for their dedication, vision and tireless hard work.
The BBC has announced the five winners of the BBC Music Day Unsung Hero Award, launched as part of BBC Music Day (Friday 5 June) to honour the incredible work they do within their local community through music.
People around the country were asked to nominate their local music champion – someone who’s had a significant impact on music in their local area and who stands out for their dedication. The winners are Denise White for Something Special (Eglington, Londonderry); Hannah Brine at Victoria Park Singers (Hackney, London); Mary Bell at Garvel School for the Deaf (Greenock, Inverclyde); Meryl Jeanne Gittins for her decades of work with music (Risca, Newport); and Paul Balmer at The Oakley Rangers (Corby, Northamptonshire).
Bob Shennan, Director of BBC Music, says: “Honouring music’s Unsung Heroes is a core part of what BBC Music Day is about, celebrating people like Denise, Hannah, Mary, Meryl and Paul who make a huge contribution to their community through music. It is a pleasure to acknowledge and celebrate these five Unsung Heroes, who are all a huge inspiration and responsible for bringing joy to many lives through music. Huge thanks to them for their dedication, vision and tireless hard work.”
BBC Music Day is a nationwide celebration of music, aiming to bring people together across generations and communities through their love of music. It features events and concerts in towns and cities across the UK involving well-known musicians, local communities and all the BBC’s Performing Groups, and will be broadcast on Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 6 Music, Asian Network, BBC Local Radio, The One Show, this Sunday’s Songs Of Praise, and at bbc.co.uk/musicday which features films about the five winners.
The day includes an official Guinness World Record attempt to set the greatest distance between people singing a duet - with BBC Radio Cmyru’s Shân Cothi in Wales and Andres Evans more than 7,000 miles away in Patagonia. BBC Music Day starts at 6am with ‘Hadrian’s Wall of Sound’, a unique musical relay spanning the entire length of the wall with hundreds of local musicians travelling along it using various modes of transport, passing a baton from performer to performer. From daybreak in Bowness on Solway in West Cumbria, this mammoth feat will finish in Wallsend in North Tyneside, 73 miles and 13 hours later.
Denise White started Something Special in April 2007 as she wanted to improve the educational and social opportunities for young people and adults with learning disabilities and realised the impact creativity and music had on their lives. Something Special was started to use music as a way of consolidating learning, developing concentration, social interaction and participation in group work. Today it is an award-winning regional educational charity that provides accredited courses in music and performing arts to over 80 students. The students have performed at events throughout the UK and Ireland and regularly showcase their music and talents to their local community.
Denise said: “I could see that music worked some kind of magic with young people and that it could really change things for them. When Something Special first started I could see that lives were being transformed through innovative teaching methods. We had young people who had rarely engaged in conversation or social interaction and had very little confidence in themselves. Through various intensive and regular music sessions our young people were able to sing, perform and showcase their special abilities and, as a result, their self-esteem and self-determination increased and has had a huge, positive impact in so many other areas of their lives. I knew what I was trying to do worked and it’s still working, but now we need to make it bigger."
Hannah Brine formed Victoria Park Singers, a non-auditioned community choir. She is a charismatic and gifted leader with an amazing ability to connect with people and inspire them with her love of music. It’s testament to her ability to translate musical potential into polished performances that the choir and their performances have raised £8,000 for charity. After just two years the choir is now 100-strong with a diverse range of nationalities, ages and backgrounds. Hannah puts together programmes that draw on individual members’ different musical traditions – the choir has sung in French, Spanish, Portuguese and Czech, to name a few.
Singer and choral conductor, Hannah, said: "I'm deeply flattered that my choir took the time to nominate me and everyone is really excited that I actually won, in fact it feels like we all won! Our love of music is what has brought us together and I have been very lucky with this choir - the singers are so enthusiastic, dedicated, and get involved as much as they can. We have so many skills and talents between us; the choir is a real group effort resulting in something very special. Wednesday nights are great fun and we are all really proud the choir is receiving this attention."
Mary Bell teaches children at Garvel School for the Deaf in Greenock, Inverclyde and is herself a wheelchair user who became profoundly deaf at the age of 36. However, Mary’s loss of hearing hasn’t prevented her from continuing to teach and inspire further generations of young people to take up a musical instrument. She senses sound through vibrations and places her fingers on the side of someone’s neck when they sing to determine the pitch of a sound. Mary is thrilled with her accolade, which came after being nominated by her friend Thursa Sanderson.
Mary said: “I was just about to start a music session when Thursa made a FaceTime call to me and told me I had won the BBC Music Unsung Hero Award for Scotland. To be honest I was a bit shocked and stunned, I didn't have a lot of time to think about it at that time as I was about to make music with a great bunch of kids. As our music session began I knew that these young people I work with are the inspirational ones, they are my unsung heroes! They make everything I do fantastic and so worthwhile. I'm very, very proud of all of them.”
Meryl Jeanne Gittins was born and raised in Risca, Newport. She taught music in the area from 1974 to 2008 and has nurtured, encouraged and given fantastic opportunities to thousands of local children. During her 24 years in Ty-Sign Primary School, Risca, Meryl developed a renowned school choir, which became an integral part of the community, helping keep local music alive. Her young singers not only had the opportunity to perform locally, but also in prestigious venues including The Royal Albert Hall. Although Meryl is now retired she continues to teach piano, accompany soloists, support local schools in preparations for exams and school productions, is an organist in her local chapel, accompanist and assistant director of ‘Coleg Gwent Chorale’, volunteers with the local toddler group leading the nursery rhymes, takes music to senior citizens’ homes and also raises money for charity by performing carols in supermarkets.
Meryl said: “I was brought up in a musical family and had piano lessons from a young age. Music has been a huge influence in my life as a pianist, teacher, accompanist and, since retiring from school, being involved in so many musical activities in the community. I was humbled to have been nominated and even more delighted to have won. It is wonderful to think that my music has had an impact on so many people.”
Paul Balmer, every Saturday for the past seven years, has run a free youth music group from a local community centre as an approach to channelling young people’s enthusiasm and energy into creative music. The group, called The Oakley Rangers receive free ‘rock school’ style music lessons in exchange for regular community service. Over the years, Paul has taught over 100 young people with many going on to pursue careers in the music field.
Paul said: "I'm delighted to have won the BBC Music Unsung Hero Award. Our music group has been going for almost eight years now and we’ve had around a hundred talented young people through our doors. It’s fantastic. I launched this music group because of the growing number of complaints about young people in the area. I saw an opportunity to do something constructive with them so I took it. It’s worked really well. Not only do the kids get to do something they are passionate about, but they also pay back to the community by litter picking, planting trees and playing concerts for local charities.”
From several hundred nominations, a BBC panel compiled a shortlist from which these five winners were chosen. Each of them will receive a BBC Music VIP Pass, giving them and their friends tickets to a BBC Music event from a selection which includes the BBC Proms In The Park, Radio 2 Live In Hyde Park and BBC Music Awards. And they have been invited to Glasgow today to be in the audience of The One Show which is coming live from the BBC Music Day celebrations at Pacific Quay. And later this evening at Glasgow City Halls they will be guests of honour in the audience for Radio 2’s Friday Night Is BBC Music Night, a special gala concert hosted by Ken Bruce and Katie Derham, featuring the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with an incredible line-up of artists - pop legends Lulu and Deacon Blue, Radio 2 presenter and jazz pianist Jamie Cullum, tenor Noah Stewart, violinist Jack Liebeck, Bhangra artist Jaz Dhami, Scottish folk star Claire Hastings, and harpist Catrin Finch. This show will also be simulcast live on Radio 3, Radio Scotland and the Asian Network.
Notes to Editors
A selection of images from across BBC Music Day, including those featured below, are available from BBC Pictures.
KA
