Pencerdd Music staff and friends Jo, Billy, Nick and Phil will be running in the Cardiff Half Marathon on Sunday 1st October 2017 to raise money for the brilliant charity "The Patagonia Instrument Project".

The Patagonia Instrument Project is Pencerdd Music's chosen charity for 2017, a charity in Wales providing musical instruments for youth groups and schools in Patagonia.

In October 2015 the BBC National Orchestra of Wales embarked on an ambitious tour of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, including a community residency celebrating the 150th anniversary of Y Wladfa, the Welsh settlement in Patagonia. Members of the orchestra, along with harpist Catrin Finch, conductor Grant Llewelyn and animateur Andy Pidcock, worked with over 1000 children in a series of 29 school and community workshops culminating in 2 gala concerts in the Predia Ferial at Trelew.

During these workshops it quickly became apparent to the BBC musicians that most of the schools they visited had no instrument resources at all. A suitcase full of handheld percussion brought from Wales allowed 60 children to play music together and teachers and pupils in Patagonia were overawed by this simple collection of instruments.

The aim of the project is to collect and deliver musical instruments that are simply not accessible to pupils and teachers in Patagonia, either because of financial constraints or lack of availability. These do not need to be new, just good quality, robust instruments that will serve their purpose for the specialist teachers who need them.