Yorkshire-born singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has added another bucketload of cred to his watertight reputation as the Mr. Nice Guy of pop, by donating £170,000 to his former school for the purchase of new equipment and facility renovations. Made across a two-year period via the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation, the donations have been utilised by Sheeran’s former school, Thomas Mills School in Framlingham, Suffolk, to ensure the security of its pupils’ future beyond primary education.
As reported by NME, the donations have purchased cameras, a photography darkroom and Apple MacBook computers. A statement issued by the Foundation’s trustees assert that, “Following grants to Thomas Mills School, this has enabled them to successfully upgrade their Art, IT and Music rooms for students to improve their educational performance.” More specifically, it has been revealed that “soundproofing, a new photography studio and several high-end composition and recording software programs“ are among the new installations for the Brit Award-winner’s former school.
What a star. After all, this is surely to be expected from an artist whose song titles include Give Me Love and Perfect?
According to its official website, the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation “aims to help young people under the age of 18, and living in Suffolk, with small but useful grants to help with studying or playing music … [as well as] buying an instrument, funding your music studies, or paying for rehearsal space.”
The ideals of the charity bearing Sheeran’s name is much in line with the altruistic nature of the musician himself, who made headlines last month for donating £1m to local charities across Suffolk. In a bid to offer support among those affected by the financial damages of the coronavirus pandemic, Sheeran had, according to a source quoted in a Capital FM report, “split a seven-figure sum between local charities to try to ease the strain on his local community. Ed is very involved in the area and knows that his donations will make a massive difference.”
