COMPETITORS at next year’s Swindon Festival of Music - the 110th - will compete in classes ranging from choir to church organ, and from brass to harp.

They will be taking part in what is regarded on the festival scene as one of the finest events of its kind.

Geoff Walters has seen plenty of evidence for that admiration.

“We can only judge by what adjudicators say.

“Our adjudicators are unquestionably international class adjudicators. They’re highly talented and qualified musicians and they go around the country.

“There was a lady we had a couple of years ago - Ann Lampard - who was retiring, and she wanted her last festival to be at Swindon. She said the standard in Swindon was among the highest in the country, and that it was one of the most enjoyable.

“I thought that really said quite a lot.

“Friends from away are always amazed at how much is going on in Swindon in the arts generally.”

Geoff puts the ongoing success down to the diversity of competition classes, the quality of music teaching in and around Swindon and some other important advantages.

Few music festivals, for example, have as their official accompanist an acclaimed international concert pianist, but Swindon does in the form of Paul Turner, himself a Swindonian.

“Some singers enter specifically because they know he will be playing for them. He’s that good, and he gives support to all the singers. He’s just a dream to listen to.”

Geoff is also grateful to the businesses who support the festival and to his fellow volunteer organisers, notably secretary Yvonne Walker, and glad to have venues - Christ Church and the Arts Centre - ideal for a festival of Swindon’s size and scope.

His own connections to the event go back many years.

A grandfather, Reginald Choules, helped to found it; his parents were committee members, and his father, a chorister and choir conductor, chaired the festival in the 1980s.

His mother, like Geoff, was an accomplished pianist, and played for many drama and music groups.

Geoff became involved in earnest after retiring from a teaching career 18 years ago, but still finds time to work with two local choirs and a smaller group called Encore.

His belief in the power and value of music is lifelong.

“Years and years ago in Czechoslovakia, I think it was, researchers were looking at the benefits of music. Children up to the age of eight or nine were given an hour’s music a day, and the children who had this intense music from a young age were academically more successful in later life.

“When I was teaching at Commonweal a lot of the musicians were very bright children. I’m not necessarily saying that was to do with the music but I just think music does have a very important part to play in the education of children.”

The popularity of the various competition classes fluctuates, sometimes according to the availability of certain teaching in certain areas. Woodwind entry from the Marlborough and Devizes area is strong, for example, while Cirencester is a mainstay of guitar.

Geoff would like to see more Swindon Music Festival entries in the brass and adult singing classes.

Thanks, perhaps, to the efforts of Gareth Malone, singing in choirs is a more popular hobby among adults than it has been in decades, but at the festival there are fewer adult singers than might be expected.

Geoff wonders whether people are uncomfortable at the idea of being judged, perhaps harshly. He is keen to stress that there is no TV talent show-style judging at the festival.

“It’s not like that at all. It’s very supportive – and it’s not just the adjudicators who are supportive.

“It’s the other people in the class. They support each other. Whoever wins, it’s almost irrelevant at the end – it’s just the fact that people have sung and people have enjoyed listening.”

Entry to the festival for people who simply want to listen is available for as little as £2, and people are also welcome to find out about becoming Friends of the Festival. Its website is swindonmusicfestival.co.uk