Successful open morning for Rochdale Youth Orchestra

Rochdale Youth Orchestra

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Young musicians from across the borough were invited to get together with others to perform popular film music including scores from Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean at the Rochdale Youth Orchestra open morning at The Gracie Fields Theatre.

Today was the second of the open mornings and has proved to be a popular way for local children to spend their Saturday mornings, including the niece of Lisa Stansfield.

Mayor of Rochdale Councillor Keith Swift and Mayoress Sue Etchells came along to watch the children perform and congratulate them on their achievements

Sue Verity who organised the event said: “The open mornings have been a huge success we now have 16 new members to the junior youth orchestra.”

After arriving at the Gracie Fields Theatre this morning the musicians were split into different rooms, including one for brass and one for woodwind, after a short break everybody got together and performed a piece of music from the Pirates of the Caribbean.

Mrs Verity continued: “We have children of all ages coming to the orchestra from a number of schools across the borough our aim is to make people aware of the orchestra and to find new members.”

Mrs Verity told the children that they were all “very lucky” to have been visited by the mayor.

Mayor Swift spoke to the children about Gracie Fields and sang the song Sally - Pride of our Alley before presenting them with Certificates of Achievement.

Percussion tutor Peter Marshall was thrilled with how many people had come along, he said: “I have been part of the Rochdale Youth Orchestra since I was 7 years old, at that time there were over 100 people in the orchestra now there are just 40.

“Recruiting new musicians can be a big problem, so days like this make local people aware of us and it will hopefully give us a boost.”

The Chair Person of The Rochdale Youth Orchestra Gill Bennett said: “Generally we have got a good selection here and everybody is really enthusiastic, it is also really nice the Mayor has taken time out to give out the certificates today.”

Rochdale Youth Orchestra junior section meets every Saturday morning to practice, and the senior section meets Friday nights.