AS A four-year-old, Lesley-Ann Clubb wanted to learn to play the piano but was told by a music teacher that she couldn't.

She didn't have a piano at home so that was it, no lessons. She's never forgotten it.

Now, at 38, it's those types of barriers to music she's trying to overcome with Lamentally Sound, a social enterprise that's already making a noise in High Valleyfield and has just been given grants of almost £9,000 to help others.

Lesley-Ann said: "We want everyone to have access to music. You shouldn't be excluded just because you haven't got enough money.

"I had that problem when I was four and the teacher told me I couldn't learn as I didn't have a piano.

"The good thing is it stuck with me and made me more determined.

"If you tell me I can't do something, it just drives me on."

Lamentally Sound, a community interest company, started last August and is a record label/music services provider that delivers mental health and wellbeing projects, mainly in High Valleyfield.

She is one of five directors along with Donna Banks, Ailsa Leslie, Graham Leslie and Donna Smith, and, having suffered from mental health issues herself, knows the difference music can make.

She said: "It can save your life. It's that one thing. You can be feeling so low but just picking up a guitar and having a shot or a sing, it can change your whole perspective.

"Picking up an instrument, learning to play and the achievement that comes with it can make such a difference."

Lesley-Ann continued: "I was in the Queen Margaret. I spent a full year in hospital at one point.

"My first episode was in 2007 and it took me almost 10 years before I felt well enough to say I wasn't going to be written off because of my mental health."

Initially, she wanted to start a record label to help further her own career as a singer, but discovered quickly they were better at helping others, teaching music, giving guitar lessons to those that couldn't otherwise afford them and putting on events for the community.

She said: "The mission of the company is to use music to make the world a kinder and happier place.

"Music is so good for your mental health and studies show that learning to play an instrument does wonders for the connections in the brain.

"I just want children to have that passion for music.

"The plan is to get some of the people we're teaching into a studio so they can record a song they've written themselves.

"That's one of my goals and it'd be wonderful if we could do that."

Their first event, just after Christmas, was a very successful 'Curry-oke' for kids and adults in the Valleyfield Community Club where Lesley-Ann is one of the committee members.

They've now run a few events and had just started guitar lessons when the virus put paid to many of their activities.

In the meantime, Lesley-Ann is one of those assisting at the Pantry Club, which has been helping to feed the vulnerable, elderly, struggling families and key workers in the village.

The food is free but donations are going towards a "massive" party for the children in High Valleyfield, when lockdown restrictions allow.

One of the grants, £3,709 from the National Lottery Community Fund, will enable Lamentally Sound to buy top notch music equipment to put on a "proper" disco and karaoke for the kids. They will also be able to use the gear for future events.

There's also a Foundation Scotland grant for coronavirus-related projects, with £5,000 to start a befriending service that will be up and running soon.

Lesley-Ann explained: "It's a telephone line that we plan to run at night in the early hours, to catch that time from about 2am when the other services stop.

"That can be the worst time if you have mental health issues, sitting on your own and struggling.

"Anyone that's lonely or in need of someone to talk to can give us a call."

The grant will also be used for mental health bags which will be delivered to all the 900-plus homes in High Valleyfield, each one containing a colour therapy book, a small musical instrument, stress ball, a booklet about Lamentally Sound, puzzles for kids and info about coping with the stressful time we're in.

She said: "We're just waiting on getting them all together. We're going to have a wee music event while we're delivering, to try and raise spirits as it's been a difficult time for everyone."

And Lesley-Ann did get a piano, having gone initially into Kenny's Music in Dunfermline seven years ago for a book.

She smiled: "It's not a big one, it's a digital piano, but it was always my dream. It sits in my living room now and reminds me of what's possible."