North-west Area champion Foden's recently performed on stage with both its Youth and recently formed Junior Band in a wonderful concert held at Parr Hall in Warrington.

It proved to be a huge success as the band showcased its innovative youth development work to an appreciative audience.

Support

The Foden's Youth Band was formed in 2012 to provide monthly rehearsals and high profile concert opportunities rather than to compete against other youth bands in terms of players or contesting.

As a result the band (now with over 60 members) is supported by numerous youth organisations and has to built partnerships with Love Music Trust (lead partner in the Cheshire East Music Hub), the Royal Northern College of Music, Besson and numerous other companies.

Platform

Meanwhile, the Foden's Junior Band was formed last year in partnership with the 'Accent Music Hub' to act as a feeder to the Youth Band — with both now providing an exciting, fun packed platform of opportunity to encourage, develop and enhance musical skills and talents — something certainly shown at the event in Warrington.

Ideal opportunity

Speaking about the recent concert, Band Manager Mark Wilkinson told 4BR: "We are extremely proud of our Youth and Junior Bands, so this concert was the ideal opportunity to showcase their talents.

It was extremely satisfying to see over 110 members of the Foden's family join forces, and we would like to thank all those who are associated with both bands for assisting in their rapid development."

It was extremely satisfying to see over 110 members of the Foden's family join forces, and we would like to thank all those who are associated with both bands for assisting in their rapid developmentMark Wilkinson

Fully committed

He added: "Foden's is fully committed to youth education and we are very proud of the work we undertake in this field.

We will once again be running our popular Foden's Solo competition in Sandbach and will shortly announce plans for a non-competitive Youth Festival which we will run in partnership with Dr Brett Baker and the University of Salford University in 2017."

Find out more

If you are interested in finding out more go to:

Foden's Youth Band: http://www.fodensband.co.uk/youth-band/join-our-youth-band/

Foden's Junior Band: http://www.fodensband.co.uk/youth-band/junior-band/

And here's a bit of a taster...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrzk_GCBQzM