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SpunOut.ie fundraiser
SpunOut.ie blog: 17-year-old Niamh Francis is using music to raise awareness and funds for SpunOut.ie.
Niamh Francis is an inspirational young person from Co. Clare, who has organised a fundraising event for SpunOut.ie. Niamh is a classical pianist and will give her first ever piano recital at the Burren College of Art, Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare this Saturday, August 18th at 8pm sharp.
To sponsor the event or reserve tickets, contact info@niamhfrancis.com or call 087 2672748 / 065 7077069.
See the poster for the event: http://www.niamhfrancis.com/
Niamh tells her story below:
In the middle of last June my cousin died by suicide. He was almost 26. The morning after the wake I was trying to do some piano practice as usual, but I wasn't able to concentrate. It didn't feel normal to think that only the day before, my biggest worry was my first piano recital, to be held at the end of summer. Then an idea occurred to me. I decided to use my recital as a way of raising awareness for Spunout.ie, which I had only heard about days before, so that maybe we could help save more people like my cousin.
I'm not a particularly confident person, so the whole idea was a little frightening for me but I still wanted to do it. I have never played an hour-long programme, I'm not used to mini grand pianos and I'm too shy to even have the simplest conversation with someone, but my determination to help other young people out of misery and low self-esteem has now helped me to overcome these barriers myself.
Organising the whole thing involved picking up the phone to ring complete strangers, walking into pubs and shops to get sponsorship- which meant asking for money from people I head never met- and taking it into my own hands (literally!) to master an hour of advanced piano music in 8 weeks with no teacher!
This time two years ago, I had only been playing piano for 4 years and when I spoke about my dream to be a concert pianist, I was laughed at, ignored, and even told by my parents to consider a more realistic career. Now, here I am at 17, making my debut in the world of classical music.
With only days to go until the recital now, I feel like a slightly more confident person and a lot less hopeless about my shy problems. And as there has been a great response to the event so far, with more than half the tickets sold, I'm looking forward, if a little nervously, to the performance.
What I am hoping to achieve is not only to raise as much funding and awareness as possible for SpunOut.ie, but also to inspire other young people with the same passion for music, and to prove that anything is possible in life. No matter how absurd your ambitions may be or how much discouragement you may suffer along the way, you should always follow your dreams.
By: Niamh Francis
The SpunOut.ie team are appealing for significant funding and sponsorship to help us stay afloat and succeed on an even bigger scale. To donate online or find out more click here.
