Final preparations are now complete for the 2012 Alderley Edge Music Speech and Drama Festival which promises to be even bigger and better than ever before with 2700 children performing across hundreds of music, speech and drama classes.
Entry has increased for the fifth year in a row, and following a hugely successful centenary last year a further 612 entries have been received.
As a result of the additional numbers, this year's Festival is starting a day early on Tuesday, 8th May, to create a five day extravaganza featuring the very best in brass, strings, percussion, song and verse.
Keith Lowe, Festival Chairman said "It is a great pleasure to be able to announce that we have had 16 schools enter Class 2 (Junior Choir NC Year 6 and under) – over 545 children – which is outstanding - but it presented a logistics challenge.
"With the help of Wilmslow Leisure Centre, we have managed to hire The Evans Theatre for this Class alone which commences at 10.30 on Tuesday 8th May. Although this venue is outside the village, it was the one venue with the capacity to handle such a large number of people. Anyone is welcome to attend to what will be a wonderful day's entertainment."
The 2012 Festival will be located in the usual four venues from Wednesday 9th to Saturday 12th, – The Festival Hall, The Methodist Church, St Pius X RC Church and St Philips and St James Church. Then in order to accommodate the additional participants, on the Saturday they will have six additional halls in Alderley Edge School for Girls, one in Alderley Edge Community Primary School, one in The Ryleys School and one in the Scout Hut.
Keith Lowe added "With all these venues and such wonderful entertainment we welcome anyone and everyone to attend – you will have an excellent time."
In addition to the normal classes a number of special classes are being held to celebrate both The Queen's Jubilee and the Olympics.
Keith Lowe, Festival Chairman added "We now have over 2700 children entering our Festival, which is a huge testament to the increasing commitment in music, speech and drama by schools and private teachers alike. We would like to say a huge thanks to those schools, private teachers, music and speech organisations that have dedicated time and effort in the pursuance of excellence in the arts; to the parents of the 2700 children who give both time and money to help their children on their way; and of course to the children themselves, as without them we wouldn't have a Festival at all.
"It is also a great testament to all the Committee, and to our wonderful group of volunteers that the Festival runs so smoothly. The Festival is a great institution – we have a vision that 'encourages and provides a conduit through public performances for young children to express themselves through music, speech and drama and to showcase and nurture this talent in the performing arts' - that brings so much to the village and we encourage everyone to come and listen to five days of wonderful entertainment.
"This is the first year of our second Century, and as we continue to encourage a young performers' journey through the arts, we believe that they can each achieve their own level of 'greatness', because if they do, then they are all winners. We thank them all for taking part, as they will all be 'great' in our eyes."
The 2012 Alderley Edge Festival takes place from Tuesday May 8th to Saturday 12th May. For further information and a full timetable of events visit the Alderley Edge Festival website.
