Forming, Storming, Strumming!

In the Autumn of 2021, we were successful in applying to the LCVS Community Impact Fund for a small grant to offer a teatime project to junior school children to learn music, in a fun social setting, where a healthy cooked meal was provided also.

Sessions commenced from the September with a group of young people aged 9-11 years (targeting children that had previously participated in the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) funded project run by Harthill Youth Centre during the summer holidays).

The common interest of the group in deriving enjoyment and skills from engagement in musical activities (which was a popular activity during the summer HAF) was built upon with tuition in ukulele, keyboard, drumming and singing.

As a Youth Centre, Harthill YC has historically focused much of its work on the 12+ age group. The Centre has a number of large economically disadvantaged families living close by (many of whom attended the summer HAF activities) and there has been increased demand for engagement and support from younger children at the centre.

Thus, Forming, Storming, Strumming! attempted to address demand for activities by a younger age group during term time, that the centre didn’t have the capacity to respond to. There was sufficient funding in the grant to run and continue the project up to the end of Spring term (2022).

How it went …

12 young people attended sessions over the 6-month project. A total of 9 young people were aged 11 years or or under; and we also had the support of a total of 3 paid tutor/mentors (aged 18-25 years) on a sessional basis.

For the weekly sessions, a core group of 4 boys attended every week with a group of 5 girls, on average attending about half the sessions.

The young people (especially the boys) made good progress over time and were able to demonstrate their learning through playing the ukulele and identifying the different elements of music. A healthy meal was cooked and eaten, (with the most popular option being pasta with pesto sauce and garlic bread).

A performance at a sharing celebration event by 2 of the boys in HYC at the end of March 2022 gave an opportunity for them to showcase their talents and what they had learned. Since the autumn of 2022, these 2 boys have attended our Friday evening sessions.