PRE-SCHOOL and reception-aged children have been wowing audiences at The Platform as part of a two-week musical youth programme.

Swindon’s Make a Noise programme has been running for the past fortnight at Swindon Borough Council’s flagship youth centre in Faringdon Road, and organisers have hailed it an overwhelming success.

As part of the musical youth programme taking place at The Platform, the South West Music for Youth regional festival on Sunday celebrated a wide range of talent with an excellent audience turn out.

Lynn Hawkins, the Swindon Young Musicians lead, said: “Music for Youth has so far attracted large audiences and more than 200 participants. The young musicians came from all around the region, featuring young musicians from Royal Wootton Bassett, Reading and Maidenhead, as well as many from Swindon.

“Sunday’s morning event was full of percussion ensembles, jazz orchestras, wind bands, clarinet choirs and saxophone quartets. Swindon was alive with sound and the rafters of the old Platform Building were ringing with the joy of youth music.

“The afternoon session saw the turn of the choirs from across the region. The sweet sounds filled the air like spring blossom and the audiences were delighted, moved and entertained by the variety of vocal ensembles. For the evening session several rock bands took to the stage, and again the old beams were rocking to a new beat.”

Lynn added: “Music For Youth sent two industry professionals to act as mentors for the day, and this year we were privileged to have Andy Grappy, a professional session player who has worked with all of the major London Orchestras, Massive Attack and Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz fame to name but a few. We also had Kate Jones attend who is a vocal specialist who is currently Programme Director of GIGS, the mayor of London’s annual busking competition for young Londoners.”

The mentors were impressed by a number of the young people on show and were particularly impressed with the performances of the Swindon Young Musicians Youth Choral Ensemble and the Swindon Young Musicians Jazz Orchestra.

Sunday saw 229 youngsters singing and playing music with an audience of over 440 over the course of the whole day. The mentors from Music for Youth were very impressed with the talent that the South-West region has to offer and went away with some great memories of their day in Swindon.

Peter Clarke, the director of Swindon Music Service, said: “The standard of youth music in Swindon is extremely high.

"The mentors from Music For Youth were very complimentary about the standards being reached by Swindon Young Musicians and that they were extremely lucky having a venue like The Platform to call their home.”