Ed Sheeran's guitar has raised more than £50,000 for charity.
The 30-year-old singer donated the guitar he used as a prototype before composing his latest album '=' to a primary school raffle in his hometown of Framlingham, Suffolk to help raise funds for disability charity GeeWizz.
Tickets for the raffle sold at £5 each with 10,553 sold in over 160 countries across the world, bringing in a total of£52,765.
Gina Long MBE, Founder of GeeWizz said “What a wonderful life-changing fundraiser to finish the year with, it’s the very best Christmas present GeeWizz is able to give, thanks to the generosity and kindness of Ed Sheeran, who is charity champion on every level. We are so grateful to Ed for donating this prototype guitar, a hugely collectible piece of music memorabilia. We are thrilled the raffle has raised £52,765. The money will provide a wonderful space for so many children to enjoy for many years to come. We must also send special thanks to everyone for purchasing a ticket. It really is charity giving at its best.”
The lucky winner was Kellie Myers, who said she was "thrilled" to have won as her sons are currently learning to play the guitar.
She said in a statement: "I’m so excited! I’m thrilled and delighted to have won. The guitar is beautiful. My boys have been learning to play for a couple of years now. As a family we adore Ed. He really supports our community and local charities. GeeWizz is an amazing charity and they’ve been doing a lot for the local community, so we wanted to support them and Ed.”
The 'Shivers' hitmaker personally donated the guitar - as well as two signed Ipswich football shirts, which were won by runners up in Canada, France and Essex - to GeeWizz to raise funds for a SMART music room and disabled access facilities at Sir Robert Hitcham’s CEVAP School.
He previously told the BBC: "There is not another guitar like this. This is the guitar that gets sent to me to check that all the other guitars are all right – it says prototype in it. To win this, it’s a £5 raffle which goes to charity. It’s going to build a music centre at a primary school near me, which I’m really excited about."
