Gifted viola player is silenced by rude passerby

Kim Becker, 17, is a viola player in the National Youth Orchestra, which plays next month at the BBC Proms. She is a student at Cardinal Newman College and studies music at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music every Saturday.

For the past two years she has been busking in her home town, Chorley, to raise funds for a new viola. But now she has been forced to stop. A few days ago, Kim was playing her viola outside Booth’s food shop when she was intimidated by a man who told her, ‘You’re not good enough for round here, you should play popular stuff people know.’

Kim told www.slippedisc.com: ‘I’m trying to raise funds for a new viola and busking is a really good way, but I now don’t feel I can busk in Chorley. This man was very rude and unpleasant and made me stop’.

Kim’s mum, Kath, said: ‘This has happened once before, when someone was really nasty to Kim. She’s a brilliant player and I can’t believe people could abuse a talented teenager who’s simply trying to earn some money and brightening up the town centre for shoppers.’

Kim adds: ‘I’d be really grateful next time I’m busking to hear from people who would like to support me. I am hoping for a career in music but it is an expensive path to go down so busking is a great way for me to make contacts and earn some money. Not only that but it lets me share my passion for music with everyone! I appreciate positive feedback and enjoy talking to shoppers and passersby but this man was incredibly unkind’.

If anyone knows who this rude man might be, do urge him to apologise.