Shrewsbury church concerts give musically talented youngsters chance to perform
Young musicians were given the opportunity to perform live in front of an audience during the first children's concert to be staged at St Alkmund's Church in Shrewsbury.
As many as 15 youngsters, aged from eight to 14-years-old, took part in the concert which attracted an audience of more than 50 people.
Jeremy Lund, organist and one of the organisers, said: "Young people were invited to perform at one of Shrewsbury's most historic churches and we now hope to stage another similar event in November.
"Those taking part ranged from beginners to the more experienced and we plan to run children's concerts two to three times each year.
"I recently retired from being in charge of music at Prestfelde School in Shrewsbury and children were able to sign up online to play one piece of music.
"The idea was to enable these young people to experience performing and for people to hear their music and it was a really wonderful concert."
Lunchtime concerts are also taking place at the church on most Tuesdays throughout the summer with details on the website.
Jeremy added: "Our next lunchtime concert is next Tuesday at 1pm when Ruth Henley will be playing music for the solo cello.
"We are encouraging people to pop along and listen to these concerts which are free-of-charge but for which we accept donations.
"So far money from these has helped pay for the tuning of the piano and organ and the purchase of music stands.
"The concerts last for about 50 minutes and enable office workers, and other people, to come along during their lunch hour to listen to the music.
"They can even bring along their lunch to eat during the performances.
"The church has very good acoustics and is perfectly suited to small musical groups and soloists.
"We are delighted to be able to hold the concerts as, although we started them in May this year, we have had to work around different regulations brought in because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"It is only recently that we have been able to get back to normal and I think that audiences have really enjoyed having live music back in the community again."
