Professional artists unite to help next generation

Jessica Mogridge will perform again with violinist Ben Heaney, who both won BBC Radio Northampton's Music Fellowship in 1988

The leader of the Band of the Irish Guards and a musician who has played for the King are taking part in a charity concert to raise funds, to ensure "the next generation can continue to play".

The Crewdson Collective, the brainchild of professional oboist Jessica Mogridge, will perform at St James the Great in Syresham, near Towcester, on 4 January, at 19:30 GMT.

They are fundraising for the Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust (NMPAT), where they all trained 40 years ago.

Miss Mogridge, 54, said the inspiration came after a 2022 memorial concert was held for her mother, who unknown to her family had donated to local musicians throughout her life.

Many of the musicians taking part in the concert went on tour with the music school's chamber orchestra back in 1985

The musicians taking part met when they attended the music school in the 1980s, Miss Mogridge, from Little Harrowden, said.

"It's an excuse to get together again. It's about the 12-year-old still trapped inside our middle-aged bodies, who still wants to get together to recreate the fun of playing music together."

The freelance musician, who has played at the Proms and the English National Ballet, said she would share the stage with Captain Claire Lawrence, from Northampton, who is the director of music for the Band of the Irish Guards.

"Vanessa Murby, a professional musician who has helped organise the concert with her twin sister Anna Murby, told me: 'The audience will be supporting not just the 12-year-old trapped inside a middle-aged body, but the actual 12-year-olds who can't afford those experiences and opportunities we had.'"

She said her mother, Anne Mogridge, had helped so many people, it was now her turn to "give something back to the organisation that I got so much from".

"Because of funding cuts to the arts and the cost of living crisis, we want to make sure the next generation can play.

"Northamptonshire is where it's at in terms of music services, it doesn't get much better than that, and we want to preserve that."

Captain Claire Lawrence, the director of music for the Band of the Irish Guards (conducting), will take part in the concert

Peter Smalley, NMPAT's chief executive, said its services "come at a price and with funding cuts at every turn, fundraising events like this concert are a real boost".

"A number of studies have shown that learning music in your formative years can help enhance motor skills, build confidence, ease stress and improve literacy, so I'm thrilled to think that those who were our students back in the 1980s are giving back by supporting deserving youngsters four decades later."