A GUITAR signed by world-famous celebrities for a Westbury musician has raised over £10,000 after a two tier charity auction.
Leander Morales of Westbury managed to get a guitar signed by dozens of world renowned artists and celebrities before auctioning it off to raise funds for the Royal United Hospital’s Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit.
The acoustic guitar was being sold as part of a two tier auction which saw a silent auction held first where a bid of £1,300 was the highest bid when that part of the auction ended on 30th November.
That highest silent auction bid was then used as the reserve price for a 10 day ebay auction which ends on Wednesday 10th December at around 9pm. The current highest bid at the time of going to print was £10,100
The guitar received wide media attention after Coldplay tweeted a link about the guitar to their 13.5 million followers. The guitar went on to appear on BBC Points West and The Wright Stuff.
The guitar has been signed by many world-renown names including Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Brian May of Queen, Peter Gabriel of Genesis, Sir Terry Wogan, Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones, actor Nicholas Cage, Paloma Faith, Kate Nash and many more.
Leander first acquired the guitar in 2009 when it was donated by Sounds of Frome. This was part of a fundraising challenge that eventually saw Leander and his friends raise £6,500 for the Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit in Bath.
Leander said, “I am really pleased with the amount raised. It is an incredible amount and the support has been amazing. To have the support from such big names has been incredible and to see a link of the guitar tweeted by Coldplay has really helped.
“Back in 2009 when we got this guitar we had already auctioned off a guitar signed by Status Quo and I had heard that fellow musicians and friends, Cara Dillon and Sam Lakeman, were recording at Abbey Road Studios with other well-known artists.
“I also had a friend working as an official photographer for that session, Bob Condrey. He assisted Cara and Sam with collecting some very well-known people to sign the guitar including Paloma Faith, Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) and several others. The acoustic guitar is now coming up to its fifth birthday, having been signed by some of the greatest artists ever to take to the stage.”
Visit www.gm3music.co.uk/guitar-for-unborn for more information.
Pictured: Alana Morales, Leander Morales, Sam Lakeman, Colm Lakeman and Noah Lakeman with the guitar
