Cadbury Wind Band can now offer musicians under the age of 18 the opportunity to play a range of percussion instruments and a bass guitar thanks to a grant of almost £1000 from the National Foundation of Youth Music.

Youth Music has already recognised the need for instrument provision through its Instrument Amnesty where over 6,500 instruments were donated. As part of its ongoing commitment to instrumental needs Youth Music has set aside up to £1m for instrument purchase for music organisations that took part in Instrument Amnesty. This is as a gesture to those organisations that had belief in the Amnesty and as thanks to their commitment in music-making with children and young people. Music Services are not included in this scheme as they are invited to take part in the Instrument Swap Scheme. Please note that this is not an open programme. All applications are currently being assessed.

What are the results so far? Although not all applications have been assessed so far it is estimated Youth Music will have helped almost 300 organisations to boost their instrument provision by around 2,500 instruments. This amounts to £250,000 worth of new instruments which will make a huge difference to these organisations. Watch out for more details soon.

How did it work? A solicitation letter was sent out to around 1,000 organisations. Each organisation had the chance to apply for up to £1,000 for instrument purchase and had to prove that they still had outstanding instrumental needs and that Youth Music would get value for money. Organisations were able to purchase either new or second hand instruments, whichever provided the best value for money. Instruments are split into the categories of strings, brass, woodwind or percussion and any instrument can be purchased apart from music technology equipment. Music technology equipment is available for purchase through the Plug into Music programme.

The programme is now closed for applications and Youth Music aime to have all applications assessed and offers made by February 2002. For further information please contact Kirsty Leith on 020 7902 1081

Youth Music is a charity which was set up in 1999 with £30m of Lottery funding, through the Arts Council of England. The work of Youth Music was endorsed in July 2001 by a further £30m to allow them to continue their work for another 3 years, up to 2005.Youth Music provides music-making opportunities for children and young people up to the age of 18 who principally live in areas of social and economic need.

By the end of 2001 Youth Music aims to have reached more than 1 million people, providing many of them with their first ever music-making experiences.It is widely appreciated that involvement in music-making advances other aspects of learning and individual development, particularly where the involvement is from an early age. Youth Music funds programmes and schemes which support music-making principally outside school hours, in communities, youth clubs and groups where music making can be introduced and developed amongst young people who otherwise may not have the opportunity.