South Pembrokeshire AM Angela Burns has been singing the praises of musicians from Greenhill School in the Senedd.
She has also made an impassioned plea for more secure funding for extra-curricular activities such as music teaching to safeguard the orchestra’s future.
Mrs Burns, who is patron of the new Supporters of Performing Arts at Greenhill (SPAG) charity set up to safeguard music at the school, highlighted the achievements of the orchestra during an education debate in the Welsh Assembly.
“The orchestra came joint first in July 2009 in Music for Youth and former student Steffan Ciccotti came third in the Young Musician of Wales awards this year,” she said.
But she pointed out that funding uncertainties have made it necessary to set up the charity SPAG.
“This is a school orchestra that is under an enormous amount of pressure and it is not simply the local authority’s fault—it is always easy to blame the local authority.
“This school has had to find an extra £271,000 in order to deliver statutory services, so the music has to go by the wayside.”
She called on the Welsh Education Minister Jane Hutt to look into ways of securing better funding for extra-curricular activities such as music teaching.
“We say to young people, ‘Go out there and do something utterly worth while with your lives’,” added Mrs Burns. “A total of 167 pupils belong to that orchestra and yet, when push comes to shove, we turn around to tell them that there is no money,” said Mrs Burns.
“The disappointment, sadness and depression that these young people suffered in the last year while they tried to raise that money has been quite heartfelt and sad to see.”
