Schoolboy’s song raises £5,000 for Alzheimer’s charity
Melanie May | 12 April 2016 | News
A 15-year-old boy who wrote a song to raise funds for Alzheimer’s Research UK has been named a Point of Light by David Cameron.
Harry Gardner wrote the song about his grandmother who has the condition, after she failed to recognise him for the first time. The song has since become number one in the iTunes singer/songwriter chart, after reaching number 39 in the iTunes songs chart last month.
The music video has had more than 200,000 hits on YouTube and the track itself been downloaded more than 1,700. It is available for 99p, and so far the song has raised more than £5,000 for the charity through a mixture of profits from the downloads, and Harry’s own Virgin Money Giving fundraising page. The song can be bought on iTunes, as well as on Amazon Music.
Jessica Hiscocks, Regional Fundraising Officer at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said:
“It is wonderful when we hear of teenagers using their spare time to helps raise funds for Alzheimer’s Research UK and the fact Harry has used his enormous talent to benefit our charity is both incredible and selfless. We have received such a fantastic response to Harry’s music video from all over the UK and the world and it’s great to hear how Harry’s music has touched so many.”
Harry is the UK’s 510th Point of Light, an award given by the Prime Minister to outstanding individual volunteers.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.