GOOD NEWS: Rawcliffe resident raises over £4k for charity

A York woman has raised over £4000 by playing the bagpipes during the pandemic.
Rachael Blueman, who lives in Rawcliffe, started learning to play when she was 38 with the City of York Pipe Band after seeing them outside Marks and Spencers on Parliament Street.
Today, she’s raised thousands of pounds for the RSPCA and York Animal Home.
It all began after she heard about bagpipe players piping in Scotland for Thursday night’s Clap For Heroes: “I thought I’ll just start piping in the local street, and then a few people heard about it and asked if I would pipe for them. At one point I was piping in three or four places on a Thursday night.
“After a little while, I suddenly thought I could maybe use this to fundraise. So I got my husband with an RSPCA bucket around me, and if people wanted to donate, they could, and if not, they didn’t. But it was just wonderful because you’d go to these streets and you’d have people that hadn’t seen anyone for weeks, they’d come out and they’d stand on their doorstep. It was just raising spirits and really making a difference to the community. It was lovely, it really was lovely.”
After starting on Thursday nights, Rachael has found herself doing more and more events such as veterans funerals, performing at care homes, and on New Years’ Eve, she performed at The Grand in York, with proceeds going to her chosen charities: “I’m very lucky that I have got this skill, and it’s wonderful that I can make a difference. When people ask, I’m honoured to be involved. It’s lovely.”
On her own, Rachael has raised over £4,000, but she hasn’t been working alone the whole time: “I’ve got a friend called Ruth who sells preserves for York Animal Home, so together we’ve done two Christmas markets in Rawcliffe, and I was piping there and between us, we raised £750 in two days. She’s raised over £15,000 from selling preserves and making them!”
If you’d like to invite Rachael to an event, she doesn’t have a set price: “I don’t say I charge ‘X,’ if people want to donate then that’s where the money will go to. It’s their choice and then you’re not putting anybody under pressure to think they have to put their hands in their pocket.”
If you would like to invite Rachael to pipe at an event, you can call her on: 07870165227.