THE founder of an organisation which makes music accessible to the whole community has received an award for his work.

Mike Coleman, of Core Music, a not for profit social enterprise based in Hexham, has received the Paul Harris Fellowship from Hexham Rotary Club.

The Paul Harris Fellowship is the highest award given by Rotary and is a recognition named after the founder of the organisation, given to those who have shown care and dedication in helping others in their local community.

At its meeting on November 11, the president of Hexham Rotary announced that the club had decided to present a Paul Harris Fellowship to Mike in recognition of his dedication to Core Music, which helps bring music within reach of everyone.

Core Music provides facilities to more than 200 people a week to learn a musical instrument, play music together, sing as part of the choir and generally celebrate music in all its forms and genres, whether to learn and study towards grade exams or just to play for fun. It runs special events, supports local festivals, hosts concerts and runs regular weekly clubs and workshops.

Mike said: “I had been asked to go along and give a talk about Core Music, what we do and our plans for the future, but I had no idea what was going to happen.

“I was very touched and very honoured by it and it was a great thing to receive. It really took me by surprise.”

The award was presented after Mike had told the club about the work that Core Music was doing in Hexham and how it had started from small beginnings in 2008 to its position today, where it is hoping to gain charitable status that will enable it to do even more for the local community.

Mike added: “Our plans are that over the next year or so we are going to look to develop more work around people who are experiencing difficulties in their lives through lots of different things, such as isolation, getting older and mental health problems, and what we are trying to do is look at musical activities that might benefit people in those circumstances.

“It’s something we do a bit of anyway but we want to make it a bit more organised and a bit more accessible to people and make people more aware of how music can help in those circumstances.”