The “inspirational” founder of a pioneering cooperative that rescued music in schools in three North Wales counties is in the running for a major award.

Heather Powell, the head of service at the North Wales Music Cooperative, which provides music lessons in Wrexham, Denbighshire and Conwy, has been shortlisted as a finalist at the prestigious Wales Care Awards.

Heather was nominated in The Sir Bryn Terfel Foundation Wales Care Award for Promoting the Arts in Social Care category, sponsored by the Pendine Arts and Community Trust.

The event is being organised by Care Forum Wales to recognise exceptional work of the unsung frontline heroes in the social care sector.

The presentation ceremony, sponsored by Meddyg Care, is being held at Cardiff’s Holland House Hotel on Friday, October 17.

Heather, who hails originally from Buckley, and her colleagues formed the cooperative in 2015 in the aftermath of a financial crisis that saw funding for peripatetic music teachers being axed in Denbighshire.

Two years later history repeated itself in Wrexham and the cooperative launched a successful music service there too.

The same thing has now happened in Conwy where the group has just started providing lessons.

The organisation works with children in mainstream education, those in specialist education and children who are being home-schooled.

It provides work for more than 90  freelance musicians and teaches 7,000 youngsters weekly.

Heather said: “I am really proud to be named a finalist in the awards, and I really feel it’s not just for me – it’s for the whole organisation and all the tutors involved.

“The cooperative has always been about ensuring that every child has access to music, irrespective of their financial background, whether they are in care, whether they have additional needs.

“That has been our aim since we started, that has been one of our visions for the service from day one.

“I know what the power of music brings especially to the more vulnerable children, it is huge for their wellbeing and their mental health.”

According to Heather,  she was immensely proud of the success the cooperative had achieved in the last decade.

She said: “It’s incredible really to look at where we have ended up.

“If somebody had told me that 10 years ago, I wouldn’t have believed them.

“The cooperative started just as an idea to keep music going and it has developed into a huge organisation involving over 100 people and thousands of children and young people.

“It has been quite a remarkable journey really and we are very proud of everything that has been achieved.”

Cooperative chair Councillor Mark Young, a member of Denbighshire County Council, said the recognition for Heather was well deserved.

He said: “Having her named as a finalist in the Wales Care Awards is not surprising and it’s well deserved, especially when you think about all the young people in our communities she has helped provide music for.

“Heather has never given up, despite all the challenges. She is a force of nature and a real inspiration.

“When I looked into this recently, because we have just celebrated our 10th year, and done the maths, we found the cooperative has delivered over half a million lessons to young people.

“So when you look at the impact of just one music lesson on one young person, and you times that by over half a million, the impact is unmeasurable.

“And when you see the name Sir Bryn Terfel on the award, it’s fantastic a legend of music through his award is recognising the musical cooperative, who I believe have become their own legends.

“Every teacher, every lesson delivered is an endorsement of their good work because music is so important to young people’s wellbeing and for Welsh culture.”

Mark said he remembered how devastated the music teachers in Denbighshire were 10 years ago when they were told they were being made redundant.

He said: “When that happened you think it is the end of the world, it was so upsetting.

“That was just over 10 years ago now, and from something so negative to get to a point when you’re winning awards and delivering over half a million lessons, is quite incredible.”

Mark added: “We took Denbighshire, then Wrexham, and we are delighted to be taking on Conwy.

“It’s all coming together, and it all comes from the hard work in getting all the grants in to help the most vulnerable in society get music lessons.”

Mario Kreft MBE, the Chair of Care Forum Wales, said: “Care Forum Wales has been working tirelessly for more than 30 years to promote the social care sector.

“We established the Wales Care Awards to show our appreciation to the workforce and the wider sector for the remarkable and vitally important contribution everybody makes, day in day out.

“The event  underlines the importance of the social care sector. It is the glue that binds our communities together, both socially and economically.

“Our mission is to be the voice of social care in Wales to advocate on the sector’s behalf, holding truth to power in order to secure a fair deal to recognise the dedication of our front line heroes and heroines across our nation.

“If you don’t value the people who do the caring you will never provide the standards that people need and never recognise the value of the people who need the care in society.

“The arts and Welsh culture can play a hugely important role in enhancing the quality of life of the people for whom we provide care and we are indebted to Sir Bryn Terfel for supporting the award for Promoting the Arts in Social Care.

“Every single one of our finalists is a winner and will be presented with a gold, silver or bronze award.”