KIDS ALOUD

We have been organising Kids Aloud Concerts every two years since 2009. The main participants have always been local primary age children. Over the years these events have grown in popularity and the concert in 2017, Kids in the Limelight, was our first sell-out.

It all began as an idea to help get children involved in raising money for good causes. And over the years the concerts have raised substantial amounts for a number of international charities and appeals.

It was only gradually that we realised that the opportunity that Kids Aloud gave local children to perform in this wonderful hall was equally if not more important. Once the light had dawned we looked to develop Kids Aloud to create an opportunity not only for performance but for creativity. So it was that for the 2015 concert we tried something different. Composer Phil Wilby and club member Guy Wilson worked with the young performers and helped them create an hour-long musical Circus Of Life about endangered species, which they then performed. It was a great success. The young musicians had seen a creative process through from beginning to end, working with experienced professionals, and they also helped to raise some £9000 for the Nepal Earthquake Appeal.

After that we wanted to build on our experience and go one better. But we also recognised that the organisation involved was too much to allow us to create a new work for every concert. So for 2017 we went back to the tried and tested formula of a themed concert using already composed and popular music, while we began to plan the creation of a new work for 2019. It was to prove to be the most ambitious, complex and challenging project that Harrogate Brigantes has ever undertaken

For some years we had been working on a project in Nepal that sought to improve the education of at least some children in one of the world’s poorest countries by promoting computer-based learning in schools in the remote Panchamul valley.  So why not involve them in Kids Aloud?  And that is what we did. Guy Wilson found and re-wrote an old Nepali folk tale, Monkey Boy, and we engaged the Indian-born composer Shri Sriram to work with us. Children in Nepal as well as around Harrogate were involved in writing the songs, and a choir of 40 kids came over from Nepal to take part in the concerts. By then end we were all elated but exhausted, and more determined than ever to do even better next time.

But next time has been long in coming. For 2021 we had planned “Save the World” concerts here in the Royal Hall and a “Save the World” exhibition of the children’s ideas and hopes and fears in Ripon Cathedral. Sadly, of course, Covid 19 put a stop to that.

However, while plans for 2021 were developing, thoughts were also turning to the next “create and perform” Kids Aloud. The participating schools decided that a good subject for a concert would be dragons, those mythical creatures loved and feared by children.  No suitable traditional tale being found, Guy Wilson wrote an entirely new one, The Last Dragon. It was the first time that the work that the young performers helped to create had filled the entire concert. And it’s the first time that we’d received a grant from Youth Music using public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England. Their support was a great endorsement of what we seek to achieve with Kids Aloud. And that is quite something coming from the national body established to encourage the participation of young people in music making and creating. 

Participation in the Circle of Life was a very positive experience for the children on a number of levels. Their ideas were sought from the very beginning and incorporated into the final score. This resulted in a feeling of ownership and engagement in the music…The whole process was very inclusive and allowed children access to performing at an aspirational venue, the Royal Hall…Having seen the positive impact on my child I would fully endorse plans to further develop this initiative in the future.
Parent of pupil at North Rigton Primary School

Fantastic ideas.
What an opportunity!
What an amazing project to be involved in
What a privilege to be part of something so much bigger than our little school! This is what primary education should be all about
Our kids have been buzzing about it ever since and they really felt they had created part of something really exciting

I shall always store it in my memory with great satisfaction. Thank you for drawing me into it!
Composer Roland Fudge

We all thoroughly enjoyed the show…….. You, the team and the children had obviously put lots of work and effort into the show and it paid off in a great performance.  Many congratulations…
Jayne Morrison  (Tawny Owl) – 11^th Harrogate (St. Paul’s) Brownie Unit

You and your colleagues worked extremely hard to provide such a wonderful experience for the children. It was all worth it though for the magnificent performances at the weekend, our children and parents were blown away by the experience
Linnea Stokes, Dacre Braithwaite School