A year since the launch of Arts Council England's Take it away loan scheme - designed to make musicianship more affordable for all – Over eight thousand people have used Take it away to buy instruments - that's the equivalent of 2000 string quartets, 300 brass bands or 83 symphony orchestras!

Over £5.4 million worth of instruments have been bought, boosting music retailers and helping produce the next generation of home-grown pop, rock and classical stars.

Take it away allows individuals to apply for a loan of up to £2,000 for the purchase of any musical instrument, and pay it back in nine monthly instalments, completely interest free. With the scheme available in almost 200 shops across England, thousands more are set to take the chance to pick up and play.

Margaret Hodge, Minister for the Arts, said:

"Playing music can have a really positive impact on people's lives, especially young people, helping to build confidence, develop creativity and most of all sheer pleasure.  Therefore I'm delighted that Take it away has achieved such success in its first year. It has offered more people the opportunity to own an instrument, ensuring there need be no exceptions when it comes to people enjoying the benefits of making music.

"I wish it continued success and hope to see the scheme grow as more and more people are able to experience the joy of playing music themselves."

Take it away is open to everyone, but aimed at those who most need help buying an instrument with almost half (47 per cent) of all loans taken out by people on lower incomes (under £22,500 pa). Over a quarter (27 per cent) of instruments were bought for young people, while almost half (46 per cent) of sales were to beginners or re-starters.

Mary-Alice Stack, Development Manager, Arts Council England said:

"Playing a musical instrument is great fun whether it's a hobby or you have ambitions to make it in the music industry, but buying an instrument can be expensive. That's why the Arts Council launched Take it away and the reason it's been such a success - it's fantastic to see so many people using the scheme to realise their musical dreams."

Any instrument can be purchased using Take it away but sales statistics for the first year show that there we're a nation of aspiring rock stars with guitars the most popular instrument totalling a third of all sales. Keyboards were the second most popular instrument,