On Friday 9th February, Sidcot Music Department hosted the preliminary round of the national Rotary Club Young Musician Competition.
Eight students from local schools – including Ruby Cogan (voice), Ruby Owen (piano) and Guy Owen (trumpet) from Sidcot – performed to judges Barry Rose OBE and David Cheetham and a small audience of friends and family.
Congratulations to Ruby Owen for achieving second place in the under-15 category and to our other students for their enjoyable performances. All students involved have said they enjoyed the experience and would like to take part again next year.
This is the first time that Sidcot have hosted the Rotarians and it seems highly likely that due to the success of the evening, it will become an annual event. The Rotarians very kindly agreed that as part of the evening they would award the Catrine Basil trophy to a musician whom they felt gave an interesting performance, who perhaps did not rank in the top two but who showed much promise. This year, the trophy was awarded to Abigail Campbell of Kings of Wessex School for her performance of Cotton-Eyed Joe on violin. Catrine Basil attended Sidcot during the 1990s, excelling in Sports and the Arts.
Tragically in 2003, aged 17, she died whilst on holiday in Greece. The Catrine Basil trophy was subsequently created in her memory.
Paul Woolley
Director of Music