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The half termly newsletter from the Love Music Trust
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Cheshire and Wirral Music Hub Celebrates!
On Saturday 4th July, the fabulous surroundings of Chester Cathedral provided a spectacular backdrop as young musicians from every corner of Cheshire and Wirral came together for the Cheshire and Wirral Music Hub Celebration Day.
Across four inspiring concerts, more than 250 children and young people showcased the incredible breadth and quality of musical opportunities available across the region. The day featured the Primary Schools Instrumental Music Competition, the Hub-wide Orchestra, the Cheshire and Wirral Young Musician of the Year competition (instrumental and vocal categories), and the Hub-wide Primary Choirs Competition.
Congratulations to all of the performers, and especially to this year's competition winners: Monks Coppenhall (Primary Instrumental Ensemble), Park Royal (Primary Choir), Amelie Sanxis-Hill (Young Musician of the Year – Instrumental) and Tillie Campion (Young Musician of the Year – Vocal). Their outstanding performances, alongside those of every participant, reflected the dedication, enthusiasm and talent of young musicians from across the Hub.
Events of this scale are only possible thanks to the commitment of many people. Our sincere thanks go to the teachers, school staff, parents, accompanists, adjudicators, volunteers and everyone who supported the day. A special thank you also goes to the Love Music Trust team, whose tireless work throughout the year ensures such a rich and diverse programme of musical opportunities is available to schools and young people across Cheshire and Wirral.
We are immensely proud of everything that has been achieved this year and look forward to doing it all again in 2027!
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Love Music Trust Youth Board
Earlier this year, The Cheshire and Wirral Music Hub, managed by The Love Music Trust, appointed a dedicated group of 10 young people to join our brand-new Youth Board. This is an ongoing opportunity to enable any 11–19 year-old students with a passion for music to reflect on musical experiences, let us know what we’re missing, get involved, help plan performances, contribute to social media communications, and represent the hub at local outreach activities.
Following three productive meetings this term, we are well on the way to planning a Winter Festival Gig in Chester as part of the seasonal celebrations.
Quote from YB Chair, Sophie:
‘The youth music board has given me the ability to meet new people (from) all around Cheshire and the Wirral with similar interests and goals as me. It has allowed us to work collaboratively… to help and encourage music education in our local area. I have gained valuable insight into the different areas of the music sector by meeting with different guests, organised by the youth leaders. It is a great opportunity for any young person to be involved in.’
We’re looking forward to meeting after the Summer break for our fourth meeting on September 15th.
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Cheshire Show
The Love Music Trust was delighted to once again host the Music Bowl at this year's Royal Cheshire Show, delivering two days of outstanding live performances from young musicians across Cheshire.
Taking place on Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th June, LMT welcomed primary, secondary and SEND school ensembles and choirs, with pupils showcasing their musical talents to the Cheshire Show crowds. We would like to say a massive well done to all the performers and their teachers.
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Come and Play with the Hallé 2026
We were delighted to welcome 2000 children from across Cheshire and Wirral to the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester during June. After several months of learning pieces and songs within their whole class instrumental lessons, the young musicians came together to perform with the Hallé orchestra. With a programme of music themed on the World Cup, the pupils listened to and performed music from around the world. Many schools attend this event every year and thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to play in such a prestigious venue with a world class orchestra.
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Cheshire East Summer Celebration Strikes a Chord
Across the weekend of 27th and 28th June, more than 400 young musicians came together for the Cheshire East Summer Celebration, with concerts taking place at Sandbach School and Macclesfield Academy. The four-concert festival celebrated the remarkable depth, breadth and excellence of music-making taking place across Cheshire East.
The celebrations began on Friday evening at Sandbach School, where audiences were treated to outstanding performances from the Junior and Senior Jazz Bands and Saxophone Ensembles, showcasing exceptional musicianship and infectious energy.
On Saturday morning at Macclesfield Academy, the spotlight turned to instrumental ensembles, with performances from the Junior and Senior Percussion Ensembles, String Sinfonia, Folk Ensemble, together with our valued Love Music Trust partners, the Co-operative Wind Bands and So Strings.
The afternoon concert celebrated the region's thriving vocal scene, featuring Nantwich Youth Choir, Puss Bank Primary School Choir, Nantwich Young Voices, Sandbach Young Voices and the Youth Choir. The weekend concluded in spectacular fashion with an evening dedicated to brass, featuring Macclesfield Youth Band, Lions Youth Band and the world-renowned Fodens Youth Band.
The Summer Celebration was a wonderful reminder of what can be achieved through collaboration, dedication and a shared passion for music. Our sincere thanks go to every young performer, teacher, tutor, parent, volunteer and partner organisation who helped make the weekend such a memorable success. Together, they continue to create outstanding musical opportunities for young people across Cheshire East, and we look forward to celebrating with them all again next year.
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Evensong
The Love Music Trust has a well developed repertoire of musical experiences and opportunities for the young people of Cheshire and Wirral. We are pleased to have been able to work with Chester Cathedral in delivering a brand new project for primary schools. The Evensong project involved 65 pupils across three schools in Chester. The project involved weekly singing lessons and concluded with the children singing 'Let All The World' by Vaughan Williams with the cathedral choristers accompanied by the mighty cathedral pipe organ.
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The Nest Northwest
On Saturday11th July the Nest Northwest held it's Summer Showcase gig at the Hive in Winsford. With performances from all the Nest bands, plus a couple of visiting youth bands. We were even treated to a short set from our very own tutor band, made up of LMT Tutors, Jake Barnabas, Owen Rogers, Sam Bell, Ailis Mackay and Alex Harper. We now look forward to Deva Fest, where 3 of our bands will be performing on Sunday 9th August as part of their prize for placing in the top three of our Battle of the Bands competition back in February.
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Rex and Friends
Rex has enjoyed a lovely Summer with his EYFS friends in lots of different schools finding out about making music, singing and dancing. All the nursery and reception children loved playing along with ‘I Can Play’ on tambourines, maracas and drums, and dancing to ‘My Voice is Really Funky’.
Despite the inclement weather and the hasty cancellation of the picnic in Congleton Park, we were able to go ahead with our concert when Park Lane very kindly offered to host the event along with our friends from St Alban’s Nursery - a big THANK YOU to them! It was an event that truly celebrated what makes every child special and enabled children to develop their musicianship through songs about friends, talents, kindness, and getting along with everyone with Rex the Dinosaur as their guide.
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Oom Pah Band Project
During the Summer term, LMT tutors Andy Mallon and Harry Snasdell have been delivering whole class brass lessons in 4 schools in the Wallasey area of the Wirral as part of our very first 'Oom Pah Band Project'. The project know as 'Blow the Roof Off' culminated in a performance at St James' Church, New Brighton where over 100 young musicians performed alongside our very own LMT Bavarian themed brass band - the 'Oom Pah Loom Pahs'. We all had such a great time and we can't wait for the next one. Huge thanks to all the performers, the LMT band and of course Andy and Harry for getting 120 children up and running on a brass instrument in just 4 short weeks!
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The Macclesfield Festival 2026
On Thursday 2nd July, five wonderful schools participated in the annual Macclesfield Festival at The Macclesfield Academy. Adlington, Bollinbrook, Hollinhey, Prestbury and Rainow primary schools thrilled our sell-out audience with medleys entitled Dancers and Dreamers, alongside our usual fun and games in songs such as ‘Bungalow’.
There were also some excellent performances from our primary choirs, who were showcased within our singing celebration!
We’re already looking forward to next year - congratulations everyone!
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Chester Bandstand
On Sunday 5th July, both the Mezzo band and Chester Schools' Concert Band performed at the Bandstand on the River Dee. The weather was glorious and the audience were extremely appreciative of the musical entertainment provided by our young musicians from our Music Centre at Upton High School.
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Wirral Big Band Academy Performs Alongside Out Of The Blue Jazz Orchestra
Last month, members of the Wirral Big Band Academy enjoyed an unforgettable evening performing alongside the acclaimed Out Of The Blue Jazz Orchestra in a special concert celebrating young jazz talent.
The performance followed an inspiring workshop led by internationally renowned saxophonist and composer Andy Scott earlier this year, which took place in April as part of the Academy’s celebrations for International Jazz Day. The workshop gave students the opportunity to develop their musicianship under Andy’s expert guidance before sharing the stage with him once again during the concert.
The evening included a performance from the Wirral Big Band Academy, showcasing the impressive progress the ensemble has made throughout the year. The young musicians then joined Out Of The Blue Jazz Orchestra for a collaborative performance, creating a memorable finale that highlighted their confidence, skill and enthusiasm for jazz.
The concert was a fitting celebration of the hard work and commitment shown by the Academy’s talented young musicians and the dedicated team supporting them.
Special thanks go to Becky Bell-Thomas and Tom Cameron, whose passion, expertise and encouragement have played a vital role in the band’s success this year. Their commitment has helped create valuable musical opportunities for the young performers, enabling them to grow in confidence and develop as ensemble musicians.
The evening was a tremendous success and a wonderful showcase of the talent, dedication and bright future of the Wirral Big Band Academy.
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Side-by-Side Orchestra
The first gathering of our new Side-by-Side Orchestra on July 2nd, an inclusive music-making ensemble for a mixture of both mainstream and special school students, was a great success! There were lots of chances to play a range of instruments, sing and take part in musical warm-up activities. Everyone enjoyed playing Pachelbel’s Canon, but the most popular piece proved to be a rousing version of ‘Seven Nation Army’ with all participants joining in enthusiastically and with great enjoyment. A really positive start to a new initiative which we hope will continue to grow and flourish!
This new ensemble will continue in September on a monthly basis.
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Summer Celebration Concert Brings Wirral’s Young Musicians Together
Our Wirral ensembles rounded off another successful year with a memorable Summer Celebration Concert, showcasing the talent, dedication and hard work of our young musicians.
The concert was originally due to take place as part of the New Brighton Arts Festival, organised by the Holy Family Catholic Multi Academy Trust. However, with exceptionally high temperatures forecast and very little shade available at the outdoor venue, the difficult decision was made to rearrange the event to ensure the safety and wellbeing of everyone involved.
Thanks to the generosity of St John Plessington Catholic High School, an alternative venue was secured at short notice, allowing the concert to go ahead and giving our young musicians the opportunity to perform and celebrate everything they have achieved throughout the year.
The evening featured performances from our ensembles, highlighting the musical progress, enthusiasm and commitment shown by every performer. It was a wonderful celebration of another successful year, with family and friends enjoying an evening of outstanding music and applauding the achievements of our talented young people.
We would like to thank our dedicated team of tutors for their continued encouragement, expertise and enthusiasm, as well as everyone who supported the concert and helped make the evening such a success. Most importantly, congratulations to all of our young musicians. We are incredibly proud of everything you have accomplished this year.
We look forward to welcoming everyone back on Wednesday 16th September for our Samba and Pizza Evening, led by the fantastic percussion specialist Stu Hardcastle and kindly supported by our wonderful Friends and Supporters of Wirral Music Centres Trust. It promises to be a fun and energetic start to another exciting year of music-making.
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Vale Royal Concert
On Tuesday 14th July Vale Royal Music Centre held their end of term Summer Concert. The audience was treated to performances by the Senior Concert Band, Senior Strings, Junior Band, Mezzo Strings and the Junior Choir. The summer concert is also when we say goodbye to our leavers, some of which have been members of Vale Royal Music Centre for the best part of 10 years. We wish all our leavers every success in what ever comes next. The concert culminated in a massed performance featuring all 5 ensembles with a rendition of ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’. On behalf of all at Vale Royal Music Centre, have a great summer break and we’ll see you in September!
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The Love Music Trust has 26 exciting ensembles, from Big Bands and Percussion Ensembles to Choirs, Saxophone Groups and String Ensembles.
To find out more about our ensembles go to our website to hear the groups play and find out when the next rehearsal is.
There is something for everyone!!! |
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