Musical Youth!

On Sunday 8th February Swanage and Purbeck Rotary again held its annual Young Musician competition.

With the focus more on quality than quantity, the candidates appeared to enjoy themselves whilst waiting for their turn to shine. There was a good spread of abilities and those present enjoyed listening to the youngsters taking part.

As much as Purbeck Youth Music, who has been instrumental (pardon the pun!) in developing this competition over the years, has tried to inspire and encourage more to take up an instrument, it takes time for new players to rise to the challenge and develop the confidence to compete. Helped by the regular support of Swanage and Purbeck Rotary this is very much work in progress and everyone involved should be very proud of the part the competition has played in helping provide an important step in giving them valuable experience.

The overall winner this year was Maria Khrypkova, a pianist, pictured in the green top above receiving her prize from Swanage Town Mayor and Rotarian Mike Bonfield. Congratulations to Maria!

This year's event was the final time it will be run by Tim Arnold, who has spent the last 10 years getting candidates in place, support available and judges to attend. Tim will now be stepping down to focus on other things but will still be available to adjudicate or help out. Swanage and Purbeck Rotary would like to thank Tim for his selfless efforts in making the event a fixture in the calendar nd we are sure that we will see the fruits of his labours in years to come.