Children sing up for Honiton

CHILDREN in the Honiton area have been busy writing and practising their own school songs since September as part of a project that will culminate in a grand performance in Exeter next month.

CHILDREN in the Honiton area have been busy writing and practising their own school songs since September as part of a project that will culminate in a grand performance in Exeter next month.

The project is part of Sing Up Devon - a two-year project run by Devon County Council's Music Service to increase singing activities in local communities, by ensuring that every primary school-aged child has the opportunity to experience high quality singing as part of their everyday lives both in the school and in the wider community. Initially running in the Honiton and Tiverton areas, the project aims to establish a culture of singing in all local school communities, where everyone will have the opportunity to sing in the classroom.

Wren Music, a Devon-based community arts development organisation which has been commissioned to facilitate the project, visited each Honiton school three times last term, and each school group has written a song about an aspect of life in and around Honiton.

The final performance is being held at the University Great Hall, Exeter on Thursday 5 March at 6.30pm, when schools will come together to sing the Honiton Song Cycle and celebrate singing in the Honiton Learning Community. The Song Cycle Celebration has proved so popular that tickets have already sold out.

The new Honiton Local Learning Community Youth Choir which has proved very popular with a core membership of 30 students from all the primary and secondary schools will also perform for the first time.