AN auction of paintings belonging to the composer and former Minster School headmaster Dr Richard Shephard, who died last year, has raised more than £10,000 for the music charity set up in his memory.
The collection included paintings of York and York Minster by many well-known York artists - including W J Boddy, George Fall, Tom Dudley, Fred Taylor and John Langton.
The auction, at Wombell’s auction house in Poppleton on November 11, raised £10,455 for the Richard Shephard Music Foundation, which is providing weekly music lessons for almost 2,400 children across the region.
“The money will be spent to help develop our thriving schools music programme,” said the Foundation's general manager Cathy Grant.
“Huge thanks to Wombell’s who waived their vendor’s fees for us in memory of Richard.”
Dr Shephard, who died at the age of 71 in February last year after being ill for some time, was made an MBE in 2012 for services to music and education.
An internationally-renowned composer of church music, as well as a teacher, conductor and chair of both the Leeds Piano Festival and of the Ryedale Festival, he was also a keen collector of paintings - and when he passed away early last year, he left them to the charity set up in his name, the Richard Shephard Music Foundation.
The charity’s aim is to bring music into the lives of children and young people across Yorkshire who would not otherwise have the chance to experience it.
In the year since it was set up, the charity has forged links with a string of primary schools in North Yorkshire and in Middlesbrough, and now offers weekly, subsidised music lessons to almost 2,400 children.
With the number of schools it is working with growing all the time, it hope to increase that to 4,000 children next year.
Among the schools the Foundation is already working with are Acomb Primary School in York, Pickering Community Junior School and St Joseph’s RC Primary School in Pickering, Gillamoor CE Primary School, and St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Malton.
With the help of its ‘delivery partner’ Sing Education, the charity offers subsidised in-school music lessons, as well as music holiday clubs.
“Over the past year we have been privileged to witness the powerful transition that can take place during a music session where a child suddenly gains confidence to sing up or join in,” Cathy said.
“Our work focuses on providing a ‘whole school’ approach – to make sure every pupil benefits. We’re also working in some of our regions most disadvantaged and isolated areas. This is because we know that young people from low-income families and in rural areas have significant barriers to accessing music.”
The Foundation received its initial funding from private donors and trusts in memory of Dr Shephard.
“We were very privileged to receive generous funding to get started,” Cathy said. “Now our focus is on securing additional funding to grow and sustain our activities.”
To find out more about the Richard Shephard Music foundation, visit www.rsmf.org.uk/
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