Ed Sheeran Customised Guitar Raises £52,765 For Charity
Suffolk charity GeeWizz, the charity that created the massively successful Ed Sheeran: Made In Suffolk Legacy Auction are delighted to announce that an incredible £52,765 has been raised by the raffle for Ed Sheeran’s special prototype customised = (equals) guitar. Tickets were priced at £5 with 10,553 sold in over 160 countries across the world. The lucky winner of this one of a kind guitar is Kellie Myers and her two young sons from Ipswich who are learning to play guitar.
Kellie Myers said: “I’m so excited! I’m thrilled and delighted to have won. The guitar is beautiful. My boys have been learning to play for a couple of years now. As a family we adore Ed. He really supports our community and local charities. GeeWizz is an amazing charity and they’ve been doing a lot for the local community, so we wanted to support them and Ed.”
Ed personally donated the guitar to GeeWizz to raise funds for a SMART music pod and disabled access facilities at Sir Robert Hitcham’s CEVAP School in Ed’s hometown of Framlingham. The guitar is the latest in a collaboration between renowned guitar maker George Lowden and Ed. It has been handmade by Lowden who has been Ed Sheeran’s guitar maker for the past six years.
In addition to the guitar, Ed also donated three signed Ipswich Town Football Club 2021/22 home football shirts with Ed Sheeran ‘TOUR’ Sponsor logo across the chest for three runners-up in the raffle. They went to Rossignol Sylvianne from France, Chris Noakes from Essex and Justin Taite from Canada.
Sir Robert Hitcham’s School is currently without a music room for their pupils and is in need of extra facilities for their learning disabled and neurodivergent students. The fully accessible SMART music pod will be a dedicated space for peripatetic music lessons, whole class music lessons, music clubs and band practise.
Gina Long MBE, Founder of GeeWizz said “What a wonderful life-changing fundraiser to finish the year with, it’s the very best Christmas present GeeWizz is able to give, thanks to the generosity and kindness of Ed Sheeran, who is charity champion on every level. We are so grateful to Ed for donating this prototype guitar, a hugely collectible piece of music memorabilia. We are thrilled the raffle has raised £52,765. The money will provide a wonderful space for so many children to enjoy for many years to come. We must also send special thanks to everyone for purchasing a ticket. It really is charity giving at its best.”
Extra funds will be distributed by GeeWizz to others SENDS projects for learning disabled and neurodivergent children around Suffolk.