Scouts selected for national orchestra (From Malvern Gazette)

Scouts selected for national orchestra

1:38pm Friday 25th July 2008 in News

SCOUTS Sam Coates and Rosie Smith from the Beacon Explorer Group in Malvern have been selected to play in the 2008 National Scout & Guide Symphony Orchestra.

A six-day course for 70 talented musicians, from either movement, is to be held in Edinburgh from August 3-10.

The Orchestra is selected each year from application received from all over the UK.

Sam, 15, from Madresfield and Rosie, 16, from Suckley, are both students at the Chase Technology College and have both been selected for the orchestra in previous years.

The Chase Association and the Baden Powell Trust have supported the venture with a grant towards costs.

Hazel Coates, Sam’s mother, said: “I am very proud of them both - they are great friends..

“The Orchestra is hard work and tiring, but they love it. I know for Sam, it is the best experience of the year.”

Sam plays piano at grade eight level and cello at grade six. Rosie plays the clarinet at grade eight standard.

The pair will undergo eight hours of intensive tuition daily from professional musicians. But it will not be all work and no play as this will be interspersed with a programme of varied sports and leisure activities.

The orchestra will give two concerts at the end of the course.