Following hot on the heels of her fantastic Parliamentary Award for Services to Jazz, our Chair and founder Marianne Windham found herself as a guest on BBC’s The One Show in a special pre- Christmas edition featuring people who go the extra mile in helping others. Something of a set-up it has to be said, as Marianne thought she was going to be recording an interview, not actually appearing live. It was all, of course, aided and abetted by CKT colleagues and her family! The feature includes recorded messages from a few of the young musicians whose lessons are funded by CKT which are really lovely to watch. You can see them separately here.

You can watch the whole programme on BBC iPlayer here https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002nbyz/the-one-show-11122025

but if you don’t want to watch the whole programme, there is a short preview of Marianne’s feature close to the beginning and then forward to 19:20 for the main part.

The photo on the left shows Marianne with her daughter and husband, fellow guest Jamie Cullum and hosts JB Gill and Roman Kemp.

XY Strings Summer Concert for all the Famliy, 13 July 2024 at Guildford United Reformed Church 6.30pm

A collection after the Waverley Singers fantastic performance of Faure’s Requiem on the 22 June 2024 raised an amazing £1124. This is a wonderful result for us and enough for provide bursaries for another four young people to begin instrumental or vocal lessons.

The Egham Choral performance of the Brahm's Requiem on the 20th April 2024 raised £459.04 enough to pay for one bursary for75 per cent of the cost of a young persons lessons for a year with a big thanks to Egham Choral Society for a wonderful concert , to their audience for their generosity and to Martyn, Anna and Mel for helping us with the collection.

The Guildford Chamber Choir raised £748 from a retiring colection after their amazing performance of Chiara Cozzolani’s Vespers at Holy Trinity church Guildford on 2nd March

Awards for Young Musicians recently welcomed more young people to our Awards Programme and I’m pleased to say we offered The Cheryl King Award to two young musicians from Surrey.

Caleb, 12, piano
Caleb would like to his Award to help pay for piano lessons. As he progresses, he would like also like play the organ. Beyond music, his other hobbies are rugby and Scouts and he aspires to become a Michelin starred chef when he leaves school!
Zachary, 11, violin
Zachary first started playing the piano when he was five years old, but decided to switch to the violin a few years ago. He would like to use his Award to help pay for violin lessons. As well as playing the violin, he also enjoys singing in the church choir.

You’d also be interested to know that Caleb, Zachary and Reuben are all brothers! It’s so wonderful The Cheryl King Award is able to support this family.