Benslow Music Instrument Loan Scheme

The prevalence of charitable organisations for public benefit and the way in which, through them, ‘people help each other’ is worthy of celebration. Ninety-two years ago, Editha Knocker and Edith Croll embodied this laudable impulse when they founded what is now known as the Benslow Music Instrument Loan Scheme (BMILS). In a letter to the Times they requested owners of ‘good violins and violas lying idle’ to loan them to their nascent scheme, for the benefit of ‘students all over the country’.

Nine decades later their idea has blossomed into the largest scheme of its type in the UK and, quite possibly, anywhere in the world. In some respects, little has changed since its inception; our instruments – mostly of the string family and some wind instruments – are loaned or donated to us by generous individuals and families: retired professional and amateur musicians, parents whose children have outgrown a smaller instrument, collectors, and many others, all sharing a common desire to support an emerging generation of talented musicians, for whom buying an instrument of sufficient quality to help them develop their potential is often out of reach. One of the best things about working in the Scheme is witnessing the profound encouragement that students derive from acquiring a superior instrument. It makes a game-changing difference, opening up new vistas of musical imagination and allowing new levels of confidence.