Photo Credit: Paul Robinson / CC by 2.0
A Nottingham music shop could disappear without a new owner. Windblowers on Derby Road has been open for nearly 40 years.
Opened by David Oldershaw and Margaret Frogson, Windblowers has sold sheet music and instruments since 1983. The pair plan to retire and are looking for a new owner for the business, saying it was “time to hand over the baton.” Without a new owner, the shop will close at the end of the year.
Oldershaw was working as an engineer in the late 1970s when he had the idea of setting up a music shop. Frogson said they soon needed to hire additional staff when the shop opened, as the business “grew tremendously.”
“It’s our baby and it’s been our livelihood,” said Oldershaw. “It’s taken us all over the world – we’ve been to virtually every European country with one orchestra or another, playing or supporting.”
“The family don’t want to take it on and we’re just getting too old,” added Frogson. “We just feel really sad that it will be the end of an era.”
Windblowers has had many well-known customers in the music industry, including Nottingham’s Kanneh-Mason family. Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason won the BBC Young Musician Award in 2016, the first Black musician to do so since the competition’s inception in 1978.
Winning the SME Midlands Enterprise Award for Best Independent Music Retailer in 2019, Windblowers has long been at the heart of the music community in England. The shop is a proud supporter of the Nottingham Music Hub and is a registered participant of the Art Council’s Take It Away initiative.
The Nottingham Music Hub supports the city’s young people in developing their musical skills and participating in performances. Take It Away is a program that “allows individuals between the ages of 18 and 25 to apply for a loan of up to £2,000 for the purchase of any kind of musical instrument, and pay it back in nine monthly installments, completely interest free.”
Windblowers offers an assisted instrument purchase scheme in addition to the Take It Away program and instrument repairs. The shop is open Tuesday-Saturday, and instrument testing is available by appointment.