OKEHAMPTON'S community folk music organisation The Wren Trust is reaching out to hundreds of young people thanks to a £145,000 grant and the arrival of two new music workers.

Rebecka Lyons and Nick Wyke joined the team at the start of September as community musicians and have been contracted for a year as part of the Mosaic Music project funded by the National Foundation for Youth Music.

The project covers a programme of work involving under fives and parents, the setting up of youth choirs in Okehampton and Exeter, a folk band and Singing Saturdays in Okehampton, Plymouth and Exeter.

The Wren Trust's team now stands at eight workers led by founders Marilyn Tucker and Paul Wilson, who promote traditional and world music in and around Devon.

Rebecka recently graduated from The Dartington College of Arts with a BA (Hons) in music and is very experienced in choir leading, having sung in choirs from her childhood in Sweden.

Nick has been an instrumental player and singer for 18 years with a wide range of experience in various forms of music.

He has taught guitar, violin and other strings for the last two years and will be responsible for the running of the Okehampton Folk Band at Okehampton Community College.

The two new workers will also be researching for the multi-cultural 'Dragons' project, to be held next summer at Sidmouth Folk Festival Arena and would be interested in hearing from anyone from non-British culture, from whom they could gain an insight into non-British music.

Marilyn Tucker said she was delighted with the response from the young people in Okehampton to a summer music school run this year by the Wren Trust. She hoped the other schemes would be just as popular.

'We were in fact over-subscribed and we ended up taking 28 youngsters,' she said.

'We also had a choir of 30 children from Okehampton for a singing challenge we ran earlier in the year.'

It seems West Devon has an abundance of singing talent — it produced one of the strongest choirs for Wren's Millennium Project 'Voices 2000' which culminated in a performance at the Plymouth Pavilions last July.

'It is a very exciting time for the charity but we are only ever secure until our funding runs out and that will be September next year,' said Marilyn.

'We hope to get continued backing so we can keep up the good work throughout the county.'

The next major event for the Wren Trust will be the Baring-Gould Study Break and Folk Festival which starts running from October 21.

As reported in the Times last week, free junk band workshops begin today (Thursday) at the Octagon Theatre at Okehampton College at 6.30pm.

Anyone is welcome and all instruments will be provided by the Wren Trust.

To contact the Wren Trust about any of their work phone 01837 53754.