Anglesey’s very own ‘Willy Wonka’ and the Chocolate Factory is getting behind an appeal for donations of unwanted musical instruments to support charity Electric Umbrella.
Richard Holt (29), the owner of popular tourist attraction Melin Llynon on the outskirts of the village of Llanddeusant in Anglesey, Wales, the only surviving working windmill in Wales, has kindly offered to act as a ‘Donation Station’ for the charity and he’s calling on local people to drop off their unwanted musical instruments.
Richard, who used to run a tea room at Melin Llynon, started a new venture one year ago during the pandemic and invested in a chocolate-making machinery to ensure the survival of his business. Five members of staff from the tea room were re-trained to protect their jobs and he now runs a chocolate factory and doughnut shop which employs ten people.
He has created many different flavours of chocolate, he even recently launched an ‘exploding’ chocolate bar. They also include five prize-winning Copper tickets in every batch of 1,000 bars.
Electric Umbrella, which uses the power of live music to enhance the lives of learning disabled people, aims to collect 1,000 unwanted musical instruments by Christmas.
All donated instruments will be repaired, re-purposed or adapted by the charity so they can be used by members to create unique opportunities for learning disabled people, or they will be sold to raise funds for the charity.
The charity has made some truly amazing instruments such as drum kits that strap on to wheelchairs, banana pianos, and a drill guitar which was invented so that a band member could use his foot to play the instrument.
Richard Holt, owner of Melin Llynon is a keen musician himself and plays electric guitar.
He said: “Playing an instrument has proven to be invaluable to me because it’s the only way I can fully relax from my demanding work. The gift of playing an instrument will always be useful and I think it’s important that everyone gets this opportunity.
“Electric Umbrella is one of the most unique concepts I have ever heard of. I’ve seen the way they tweak instruments to help people with disabilities to be able to play them and it’s utterly inspiring.
“I love what Electric Umbrella is doing and I’m thrilled to be part of it.”
The Hertfordshire based charity Electric Umbrella (EU) was set up five years ago by Mel Boda and Tom Billington to provide a platform for learning disabled people to enjoy live music, and in doing so challenge the perceptions towards learning disabled people. They organise gigs, operatas, musicals and even festivals.
