Heaton's Guitar Raffle Raises Over £7,000 for the Rothbury Estate Appeal

When a Heaton music shop set out to help buy a Northumberland estate for nature, it turned to the thing it knows best. A raffle for a one-off electric guitar, run by Curvy Sounds on Heaton Hall Road alongside a dozen local businesses, has raised more than £7,000 towards Northumberland Wildlife Trust's campaign to buy the Rothbury Estate. It is a striking result for a corner of urban Newcastle backing a wild landscape more than 25 miles away.

The appeal, which we wrote about in September, is part of the Wildlife Trusts' effort to secure the Rothbury Estate, one of the largest areas of land to come up for nature recovery in England in recent years. The stretch takes in the Simonside Hills, and the Trust wants to restore its moorland, woodland and rivers for wildlife and public access.

A guitar designed for the cause

The star prize was a custom Tokai Les Paul worth around £1,000, its top designed by Andrew Mills of Curvy Sounds with iridescent pearl ovals radiating from the centre. Andrew and Jess Mills, who run the shop, rallied around a dozen Heaton businesses to donate further prizes, turning a single raffle into a genuine neighbourhood effort.

The money was counted after a fundraising night at The Old Coal Yard in the Ouseburn on Friday 25 September, where Maxïmo Park, Scott Hepple and singer-songwriter Nev Clay played. Clay has since donated his own Godin electric guitar, worth more than £1,000, as the prize for a future raffle, so the fundraising is set to continue.

Mike Pratt, chief executive of Northumberland Wildlife Trust, called it "a life-affirming event and an outstanding community effort", noting how many city residents love Simonside and support restoring nature there. You can read the Trust's account on the Northumberland Wildlife Trust website.

For Heaton, it is a reminder of what the neighbourhood's independents can do when they pull together. If you want to support the campaign or catch the next raffle, Curvy Sounds is the place to ask.

Know a good local story? Get in touch.