A violin dealer and repairer in Wichita, Kansas, donated a complete violin outfit to a middle-school student whose instrument had been smashed to pieces, reports the Wichita Eagle. The 14-year-old girl had accidentally left her violin on the ground outside her school, on the day before she was due to play in an all-city strings concert. Someone then apparently took it out of its case and destroyed it.

The distraught girl's mother contacted a local radio station to appeal to anyone who might be able to lend her daughter a violin for the concert. The wife of local violin shop owner Simon McHugh was listening to the programme, and told him about the student's plight. McHugh then delivered a new violin, bow, case and accessories to the school as a gift for the girl, who was able to use the violin in the concert. McHugh left a handwritten note inside the case, which ended, 'Always remember there's more good than bad in the world.'

McHugh told The Strad: 'The local string community have really supported me well over the years, so I just wanted to give something back.'

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