A Signed Guitar By Coldplay Is Helping Pay For School Extension in UK

A school in Gloucestershire, UK, recently launched a new extension, by raising funds by holding an auction for a signed Coldplay guitar. Building a new classroom and restrooms cost Swell Church of England Primary School 300,000 pounds (Rs 3 crore), as per a report in BBC. 

Local benefactors had raised the 300,000 pounds and 11,000 pounds (Rs 11 lakhs) had been raised through an auction that featured a Coldplay guitar. The guitar has been signed by the entire band- Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion and Chris Martin, according to Action in Africa's 8th Annual Fundraiser, the website supporting the auction.

Speaking to BBC, Head of school Alison Rawlings said that it was an "incredibly large project".

"We were a two-class school but housing three classes so we needed the new space to create a third classroom. She said that there were major infrastructure issues earlier. "We also had falling down cloakroom blocks which have been replaced and managed to sneak in getting a beautiful new entrance hall as well as a new headteachers office," she said.

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The project was ultimately started earlier this year after the instrument was donated to the auction in 2020, which raised a total of 11,000 pounds. The band was contacted for assistance by a school parent who was friends with bassist Guy Berryman.

The school's auction attracted interest from across the country, but according to Ms Rawlings, the guitar was won by a local enthusiast and is still in the village. She said, "When we were thinking about planning our raffle that was not the star prize that we were expecting. We had nationwide interested in our online raffle, people as far as Scotland put entries in."