Charity drums up £26,000 of support with a little help from its friends

2 June 2010

An exclusive fundraising event featuring legendary Beatles producer Sir George Martin raised over £26,000 recently for national charity Deafness Research UK.

The audience at ‘Sir George Martin in conversation with Andrew Marr’ was treated to fascinating insights into The Beatles recording sessions at the famous Abbey road studios. Amongst his many anecdotes, Sir George revealed how his classical music training helped to shape Beatles songs such as ‘Yesterday’ where he suggested the use of a string quartet accompaniment. Despite their initial scepticism, The Beatles felt that the result was a revelation.

Sir George also revealed inside stories from his work with many other celebrated and iconic names, including Sophia Loren and The Goons.

As an unexpected bonus, Sir Paul McCartney himself came along on the evening to show his support for his former producer.

Andrew Marr revealed a passion for painting and introduced one of his own creations for the auction at the climax of this highly successful evening at Kings Place in London in addition to a signed series of his books.

A drumhead signed by Ringo Starr and a stunning limited edition lithograph of the score of ‘Yesterday’ signed by Sir George Martin and Sir Paul McCartney were amongst the items introduced for auction by Sir George. The highly prized lithograph of Sir George Martin’s original 1965 score for the Beatles’ song ‘Yesterday’ was an exact duplicate of the original and sold for £10,500!  

“We are so grateful to Sir George and Andrew for making this magical evening possible. It was a unique occasion and raised many thousands of pounds of vital funds for the charity,” said Vivienne Michael, Chief Executive of Deafness Research UK. “The funds will be channelled directly into further life changing deafness research.”

A small selection of the evening’s conversation highlights can be seen on The Guardian website .      

ENDS

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Notes to editors

About Deafness Research UK

• Deafness Research UK is the country’s only charity dedicated to finding new cures, treatments and technologies for deaf, hard of hearing and other hearing impaired people.
• The charity supports high quality medical research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of all forms of hearing impairment including tinnitus.
• The Deafness Research UK Information Service provides free information and advice based on the latest scientific evidence and informed by leading experts. The Information Service can be contacted on Freephone 0808 808 2222
• For more information on research into deafness, tinnitus and other hearing conditions, log on to the website at www.deafnessresearch.org.uk where you can access a wide range of information. Alternatively you can e-mail Deafness Research UK at
• One in seven people in the UK – almost nine million people - suffer hearing loss.
• Deafness Research UK was founded in 1985 by Lord (Jack) and Lady Ashley of Stoke.
• In January 2008, Action for Tinnitus Research (ATR) was linked with Deafness Research UK under a uniting direction order under section 96(6) of the Charities Act 1993.

REF: DRUK0251 – Yesterday a huge success for Deafness Research UK
 
www.deafnessresearch.org.uk