3,000 attend musical celebration

2:01pm Thursday 15th May 2008

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CELEBRATIONS to mark the 10th anniversary of Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon attracted a record 3,000 visitors on Saturday.

Live and Free @ WMC was packed with indoor and outdoor musical performances, workshops and taster sessions all for free.

Organisers said the event went off without a hitch and are pleased it attracted new faces to the centre.

Kate Schweizer, of Wiltshire Music Centre, said: "It was a really successful day with double the amount of people we were expecting. We were so lucky with the weather.

"There were so many families and kids there and people could sit outside all day.

"But there was a real variety of people there and a lot of people came to speak to us and said they have never been here before and didn't realise what went on here."

Musical performances were held in different spaces around the centre so that the sound did not interfere with any other recitals.

Weapons of Sound, who create music out of junk like dustbin lids and oil cans, proved very popular with visiting families.

There was also salsa classes, music technology workshops, open jazz jamming sessions, percussion workshops and the opportunity to take a sneak peak backstage.

Mayor of Bradford on Avon, Vicky Landell Mills, who is also a trustee of the centre, said: "It absolutely exceeded everybody's expectations.

"I was sitting on the Friends stall and what was interesting was that there were people there who hadn't been before.

"We don't want to be Wiltshire's best kept secret. It's an amazing resource and so many people who know about it really benefit from it.

"But there are still those who don't even know it exists or think there is nothing there for them, but there is such a range of music on at the centre."

Cllr Landell Mills said Weapons of Sound were certainly the loudest performers of the day and she enjoyed listening to Jason Rebello playing piano and the West Wiltshire Young Musicians perform too.

The finale to the day was a performance by the Budapest Gypsy Orchestra that sold out weeks ago and proved a fitting finale to a triumphant day.

More photos in this week's Wiltshire Times and Chippenham News.