North Shields based violinist, Charlotte Kennedy, has received a new electric instrument from the Sunday for Sammy Trust. Originally from Rothbury, Charlotte Kennedy started to play the violin at the age of 5, after folk artist Kathryn Tickell visited her school to teach music workshops, suggesting that she needed a full-sized instrument to continue developing her skills.
This became possible after her mum went into the loft and found a violin that her dad used to play when he was younger. She was soon enrolled into a music education programme to help her harness her talent. Charlotte then went on to study music at Durham University and she now teaches music to children.
“My acoustic violin cleaned up well and sounded good, but it did have an annoying buzz which meant that I couldn’t use it to perform with. I love this violin as it has sentimental attachments as it was my dad’s who passed away when I was 19 years old, but I knew it wasn’t up to the standard I needed."
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Back in 2018, Charlotte applied for a grant from the Sunday for Sammy foundation to replace the old violin. She impressed the panel of Trustees who granted her £1500 towards a new one. Knowing that Charlotte needed to find the rest of the money herself, Trustee Ray Laidlaw said that there was no time limit on the grant and to claim it when she needed it.
Charlotte decided to take a music teaching job after the pandemic hit, and with her being so busy, her ambitions to perform took a back seat.
“After the pandemic I realised just how much I missed playing and connecting with an audience and sharing my music with others. I felt that if I died tomorrow and I hadn't done anything useful involving performing that I’d missed out.
“I love my electric violin, it makes a gorgeous sound and already I've got quite a few wedding bookings. I attend wedding fairs to help promote what I do and I'm really grateful to Sunday for Sammy especially as they honoured the grant after five long years.”
Charlotte has also been successful on social media, as a Tik Tok video of her playing the electric violin has received thousands of views with people enquiring to see if she could play at their wedding both locally and further afield.
Sunday for Sammy Trustee Paul Irwin has spoke of his delight that Charlotte had found a new career path through teaching and playing her violin.
“This is what we do at the Sunday for Sammy Trust, we give young talent the opportunity to progress in their chosen art. Normally we don’t have to wait five years to give away our money but in Charlotte’s case it was worth the wait.
“Our funds all come from our shows and the sale of the subsequent DVDs, and we’d like to thank everyone who has supported us in this way as they are the ones who are helping our new talented youngsters get to where they need to be.”
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