Swaledale Festival kicked off its Wandering Minstrels education programme on Friday in style, taking young brass musicians into the BAWB Federation, which consists of Askrigg, Bainbridge and West Burton schools, and Masham schools.
Cincobrass delighted their enthusiastic audiences with a mix of upbeat classical and 20th century pieces, with their finale being a fun take on the Wallace and Gromit theme tune.
Simon Chorley, the band’s bass trombonist, used to attend Askrigg School and described to the children how he had his first trombone lesson in that very assembly hall.
Swaledale Festival is a registered charity and has several awards for its extensive community and education work.
This year the Wandering Minstrels programme sees world-class musicians engaged by the Festival to perform free concerts in five local care homes, including Sycamore Hall at Bainbridge and Kirk Wood in Leyburn, and 23 local primary and secondary schools.
Swaledale Festival is bussing 150 students from The Wensleydale School to The Georgian Theatre to watch The Weaver Ensemble, and visiting other schools with pianists, fiddlers, bassoonists and many other world-class musicians.
