If you are familiar with Bromyard you will know that in 2007 the County Council put forward a plan to close our secondary school, the Queen Elizabeth Humanities College. This united the town in opposition and a march on Hereford convinced them to change their minds. “The people in Bromyard are revolting!” they cried and quite right too!
Since then the school has formed an educational trust with its feeder primaries so that local people will have more of a say and get involved in their community schools and work towards growing excellence in the provision they offer.
I’m a Community governor at the college and not surprisingly have taken an interest in music, especially in trying to entice the students away from their iPods and into live performance. This is why the age profile at our sessions is coming down and hopefully youngsters will take them over when we’ve had enough!
Due to its growing independence and confidence the college recently took the decision to stop using the County Music Service and provide its own tuition arrangements for music. This saves money whilst improving the service as more local people are involved and the choice of tutors is much more in the hands of the school.
Another change made as part of this new independent arrangement is for the college to offer music tuition not only to its students but also to the community at large. This makes financial sense but also involves the community still further in the college’s activities.
So if you are interested in learning or improving a musical instrument – wind, brass, strings, guitar, keyboards – you can arrange tuition at very affordable prices at the school. To discuss further or ask a question contact David Kemp on qemusic@btinternet.com, 0844 414 1164 or 07941 198298. Bear in mind the college is currently closed so the phones may not respond for a week or so but the email will be monitored.
