JEFFERS Pianos Bandon has generously agreed to ‘give’ six of their upright pianos to students during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Alex Jeffers and his business partner, Jonathan Smyth, came up with the idea after looking at the pianos gathering dust at their base at Cloughmacsimon in Bandon over the last month.
‘The pianos were not being used so we decided to loan them out free of charge to students preparing for exams and unable to accessá good quality instruments due to the current restrictions,’ Jonathan told The Southern Star.
The only requirement, he said, was ease of access for delivery because they did not have the manpower to lift them upstairs.
The business partners made the announcement via Facebook at 11pm on Wednesday, April 29th, and by 9.30am the following morning all six were allocated. Jonathan said he received about 50 emails and 20 calls – all from eager students the length and breadth of the country, all desperate for the opportunity to continue their studies on such quality instruments.
‘Normally,’ Jonathan said, ‘these pianos would be used for exam purposes by the Royal Irish Academy of Music, by the Educational Training Board and various institutions, but these exams have all been cancelled.
‘Three of the uprights would also have been used for the Cork Choral Festival, but that too was cancelled,’ he explained.
Jonathan said they have initially told the six recipients that they can have them for a month, but longer if they don’t need them, or, indeed, as long as the lockdown continues.
‘Five went to students – who were selected on a first come first served basis – and one went to a retirement village in Belgooly in Kinsale after they made an impassioned for a piano so the residents could be entertained during the lockdown.’
