Andertons gives away over £15,000 in guitars to COVID-19 frontline workers

Andertons Music Company recently hosted a free-to-enter contest for COVID-19 frontline workers, giving away over £15,000 in guitars to NHS, police and fire brigade workers.

The Surrey music retailer first announced the contest – a way of showing appreciation to frontline workers – in an Instagram video on 9 April.

In the video, Lee Anderton, managing director of Anderton’s Music Company explained that 50 guitars would be given away at random – and urged music suppliers to support and join the initiative with the donation of additional guitars.

He said: “We work with hundreds of different brands and amazing brands at that. If you’d like to get on board too, please contact me directly, and any guitars that you’d like to donate as well, we’ll add to that 50.” Check out the video below:

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? A message from @captain_anderton: To our NHS, Police and Fire Brigade workers, first off, thank you for helping us in these unprecedented times. The current situation has had a big impact on Andertons, our staff, suppliers and of course our valued customers. We’ve temporarily closed our Guildford store for the first time in over 50 years. We appreciate that there are hundreds of thousands of you working to see us through this pandemic, and as a token gesture, we’ve decided to give away a minimum of 50 guitars. TO ENTER: If you work for the NHS, Police or Fire Brigade, send us a private message on Instagram holding up your ID card (please obscure any sensitive information) or in your uniform, and we’ll do the rest. 50 of you will be chosen at random to be sent one of our amazing beginner EastCoast guitars, no strings attached. Well, 6 strings, but they’ll be on the guitar! We hope that this may help provide some positivity to a small handful of you. Thank you from Captain Lee & the team here at Andertons. Terms – Entries close midnight Monday 13th April 2020 – Only entries received via direct message to the @andertonsmusicco Instagram account are eligible – No cash alternative – Winners will be chosen at random – Guitars to be shipped 14 days after closing

A post shared by Andertons Music Company (@andertonsmusicco) on Apr 9, 2020 at 8:52am PDT

By the end of the contest period, more than a handful of manufacturers joined the effort – including the likes of Fender, Gibson, Ibanez and Martin – increasing the contest’s initial prize pool of 50 guitars up to 173, and over £15,000 in value.

In a follow-up Instagram video to the contest, Anderton said: “Sincerely on behalf of everyone at Andertons, thank you for what you are doing. I hope we get to give you a free guitar as just a tiny way of showing our appreciation for what you do”.

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