Emmaus community piano competition

Shoppers visiting a North Staffordshire charity shop are invited to show off their musical talents for a brand new competition.
Four years ago Emmaus North Staffs received a fascinating donation of a high quality piano which took up home at their social enterprise shop.

The piano became an instant attraction, not just for staff and volunteers, but for customers too, and now, at the charity’s newly located Potteries Centre shop, it is as popular as ever.

“When we received the piano we could not quite believe the quality of the instrument, and straight away it proved to be very popular,” said Emmaus North Staffs Executive Lead John Webbe.

“We decided to keep it in our furniture and household shop where staff and customers really enjoyed playing it throughout the day and since we have moved into the Potteries Centre we have seen more and more people coming in and having a play.

“A few regular customers like to pop in either on their way to or from work and spend a few minutes playing a tune – it’s great and it really seems to cheer people up too.”

The charity’s ‘Community Piano Competition’ will run throughout August. Each participating customer will be asked to register their entry and agree to a maximum two-minute recording for social media.

John adds: “Due to how popular the piano is we decided to run our own competition for our customers. We will ask those taking part for permission to record a short video for social media and we will be posting these across our Facebook and Instagram accounts. Winners will be chosen following the public’s votes and interaction on our channels.

“Piano playing is great and we would like to see as many visitors as possible taking part. We also have two categories – one for under 18s and one for over 18s – and there will be a range of prizes on offer which we will be sharing across our social media channels also.”