June - Alyth Voice

AYP MUSIC PROGRAMME (AMP)
“I thought music group was amazing, I learned so much
and had an awesome time.” “I think music group is amazing
fun because I’m learning and enjoying myself.”
“Music group is fun and the drums is best” “Music group
is great fun and good experience for life”
These comments show how much young people in
Alyth have enjoyed AMP since November. AYP Music
Programme (AMP) came about when young people
asked for something creative following a successful
Media workshop run over the October School holidays by
IGNITE’s Pure Media. AMP started in late 2008 and has
grown in popularity since the original pilot sessions with
the average number of young participants ranging between
14 and 25. AMP has offered sessions on drumming,
guitar and DJ (Disc Jockey) performance. Young
people have had group tuition as well as 1:1 tuition when
possible. AMP has also offered basic sound production
and ukulele performance; this led to a number of the
young people performing in the stART festival at Easter.
Some of the young people have also organised a
Fund-raising Disco and they planned, advertised and
organized the entire event with some help from older
teenagers from The Hub. Their work will contribute towards
achieving the Dynamic Youth Awards. As the comments
at the top show, the young people have thoroughly
enjoyed AMP activities and gained a lot from the process.
At Easter, a visit to Tower House community centre in
Dunfermline showed us what could be accomplished on
a larger scale. Tower House offers more advanced music
opportunities in a centre wholly dedicated to music
skills: practice space; professional recording studios; one
to one tuition and up to date equipment for around 100
young people per week.
Tower House was an inspiration and a good model of
youth service. AMP would like to continue facilitating the
personal and social development of local young people
through its effective engagement through music. However,
a number of factors would need to be resolved for
this outcome to be achieved:
More staff and volunteers: As numbers grow, we want
to maintain high levels of tuition and maintain effective
staff contact for the young people who attend.
More Tutors with more experience: Our staff can lead
the group in musical activities but often have limited
knowledge of some instruments. We would love to make
contact with local musicians and tutors who could visit
the group, (not necessarily every session), and give the
participants extra support on certain instruments.
More equipment AMP has so far borrowed most of its
equipment from other sources but we’ve now reached
the stage where its popularity and productivity requires it
to purchase its own music equipment.
We want to expand AMP to become AMMP (Alyth
Music and Media Programme). This would provide the
young people of Alyth with film, photography and other
media forms that interest them and which add to their
skills.
We are currently seeking funding in order that we can
re-start in the autumn. In the meantime if you have any
expertise in any area which might be useful to AMMP,
and are willing to help on occasion - or if you have any
superfluous musical instruments that you no longer use
and would like to donate - - please contact Susan Allan,
Secretary Alyth Youth Partnership email
sandgallan@supanet.com Thank you.
Photo top right: young people enjoying the Music Group
2
HALFCUTTA Golfers
raise funds for
ALYTH YOUTH PARTNERSHIP
© G. Mitchell
© G. Allan
The annual HALFCUTTA CUP golf competition was recently hosted in Alyth by
Garry Mitchell and 13 team members. The HALCUTTA Golf Society, which plays a
“Ryder Cup” style competition, is a match played each April between an Alyth team
and an International All Stars Select, captained by Kurt Davidson of Essex.
Each odd numbered year since 2003 the competition has taken place in Alyth
with the All Stars’ “home” matches having taken place in the years between in
Malaga Spain, Skegness in Lincolnshire and Dublin.
This year and in 2007 whilst the competition has been in Alyth the players have
hosted a fun event which has raised funds for local organisations. On Saturday
25 th April a Horse-Race evening took place in Geo’s Lounge in Alyth where the
sum of £250 profit was raised. This year the Alyth Youth Partnership (AYP) was
selected to receive the money raised. The photograph shows Garry handing over
the cheque to AYP Chair George Allan.
The HALFCUTTA Society is most grateful for the support of Geo’s Lounge in
hosting the event, the assistance of David Barclay in running it and the enormous
generosity of everyone who attended.
After a very closely fought encounter, this year’s competition resulted in the International
All Stars sneaking a single point victory over the four rounds and a final
point victory with a score of 18-17. Congratulations to the All Stars.
For those interested in any further HALFCUTTA information please contact
Garry Mitchell on Alyth (01828) 633255.