BBC Music Day celebrates five inspirational Unsung Heroes

The BBC has announced the five winners of the BBC Music Day Unsung Hero Award, launched as part of BBC Music Day (Friday 5 June) to honour the incredible work they do within their local community through music.

People around the country were asked to nominate their local music champion – someone who’s had a significant impact on music in their local area and who stands out for their dedication. The winners are Denise White for Something Special (Eglington, Londonderry); Hannah Brine at Victoria Park Singers (Hackney, London); Mary Bell at Garvel School for the Deaf (Greenock, Inverclyde); Meryl Jeanne Gittins for her decades of work with music (Risca, Newport); and Paul Balmer at The Oakley Rangers (Corby, Northamptonshire).

Bob Shennan, Director of BBC Music, says: “Honouring music’s Unsung Heroes is a core part of what BBC Music Day is about, celebrating people like Denise, Hannah, Mary, Meryl and Paul who make a huge contribution to their community through music. It is a pleasure to acknowledge and celebrate these five Unsung Heroes, who are all a huge inspiration and responsible for bringing joy to many lives through music. Huge thanks to them for their dedication, vision and tireless hard work.”

BBC Music Day is a nationwide celebration of music, aiming to bring people together across generations and communities through their love of music. It features events and concerts in towns and cities across the UK involving well-known musicians, local communities and all the BBC’s Performing Groups, and will be broadcast on Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 6 Music, Asian Network, BBC Local Radio, The One Show, this Sunday’s Songs Of Praise, and at bbc.co.uk/musicday which features films about the five winners.

The day includes an official Guinness World Record attempt to set the greatest distance between people singing a duet - with BBC Radio Cmyru’s Shân Cothi in Wales and Andres Evans more than 7,000 miles away in Patagonia. BBC Music Day starts at 6am with ‘Hadrian’s Wall of Sound’, a unique musical relay spanning the entire length of the wall with hundreds of local musicians travelling along it using various modes of transport, passing a baton from performer to performer. From daybreak in Bowness on Solway in West Cumbria, this mammoth feat will finish in Wallsend in North Tyneside, 73 miles and 13 hours later.