Member Article

Housebuilder’s donation hits the right note for learning disability music group

Bands from a Sheffield learning disability group ‘raised the roof’ at their latest gig, funded by a regional housebuilder.

Persimmon Homes South Yorkshire donated £1,000 to Under the Stars, as part of its Community Champions scheme.

The funds covered the venue, sound and lighting engineers’ cost at the recent ‘All Our Bands Live’ performance which was held at Sheffield’s music venue, The Leadmill (20th January).

Under the stars is a charity providing performing arts and music workshops and events for people with a learning disability. The group is aimed at bringing out the individual’s creativity and talent in a safe and fun environment.

The group’s recent event was a sell out and saw bands Without Heads, The Lawnmowers, The Stars Band, The Sparkle Sistaz and The Clubland Detectives entertain an audience of over 200.

Ruth Parrott, founder from Under the Stars was thrilled to receive Persimmon Homes’ support.

She said: “We were delighted to be selected as Persimmon Homes Community Champions. It was a huge relief to know that our venue and engineer costs were all covered.

“The event was a huge success. All the bands had an amazing experience and really gave an impressive performance, we were all very proud of them.

“We believe nothing is impossible and constantly strive to change people’s perceptions of what having a ‘learning disability’ really means and we feel our recent gig really proves this.”

Alan Hopwood, director-in-charge at Persimmon Homes South Yorkshire, said: “Each month we donate up to £2,000 to local community groups through the Community Champions initiative.

“As we are building at three sites in the Sheffield area, we were delighted to support such an entertaining and original group.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Persimmon Homes .