Wellingborough community hub offers free music classes

Kamlesh Parmar music sessions are run from The Hope Centre on the Hemmingwell estate in Wellingborough

A community hub is providing free music lessons to young people to help them learn how to create and produce their own music.

Kamlesh Parmar, 42, received lottery funding to create a new music studio on Hemmingwell housing estate in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

The studio opened in the summer for children aged 12-16.

Mr Parmar said he wanted to create "a safe space to express thoughts and feelings".

Mr Parmar also works with a Northamptonshire Police-led project called My Back Yard (MY:BK:YD) that aims to combat gang-related crime and violence and point youngsters towards more positive choices and employment.

Kamlesh Parmar received lottery funding to help build a new music studio and provide free lessons

The courses run for seven weeks and are taught by Mr Parmar and Reuben Harris, 37, a student from the University of Northampton.

They provide step-by-step tutorials and work to find out what each student's interests were, "whether song writing or producing", Mr Parmar said.

Reuben helps to teach young people music production along with Kamlesh Parmar

Mr Parmar, who runs non-profit organisation The Compound in Wellingborough, received almost £10,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund.

The money was used to build a professional music studio at Hemmingwell Community and Skills Centre in Wellingborough, offering free lessons for young people living on Hemmingwell estate.

Kamlesh Parmar also worked for six years to get exercise equipment installed on the Hemmingwell estate in Wellingborough