We had a lovely time visiting our friends at Barstow House as part of the Musical Connections project!

I’ve been there before but I think this year was the best!Kizzy

We were due to leave school at 11.30 for our exciting Young Voices adventure to Manchester Arena. Unfortunately, the company we had booked didn’t have a coach for us which we found out from our hero Mrs Cole. Luckily, we got a coach from Pullman’s (our second heroes of the day, along with Mrs Deighton for organising it) and we were OFF!

Soon after, when we were all starving, we ate a delicious lunch on the coach.

It took an hour and a half to get to the arena but fortunately we got there (at last!). The arena was massive and we were all very excited, there was also a lot of security.

When we got inside, we found our seats way up high in the arena. After that, we rehearsed for three hours, which was really tiring but good to sing with the other 5000 children that were there as well as some of the soloists.

Then it was time for a scrumptious dinner!

Later, we saw all our friends and family that had come to watch the concert and suddenly, the lights went off! Then the fancy stage lights came on and we switched on our Young Voices torches, the concert had STARTED!

The concert included: the fabulous dancers Urban Strides (who did a Star Wars dance), acapella singers the Magnets, the amazing singer Natalie Williams and an awesome 16 year old guitarist called Alfie Sheard. We also sang lots of songs, one of our choir’s favourites was Africa where we even created a rainstorm using body percussion!

It was AMAZING to watch and do!Zarah

Finally, after lots of waiting, we left the arena and found our coach but unluckily, two roads were closed on the way home!

We arrived back in York at roughly 11.20pm, lots of people fell asleep on the way home because we’d been so busy. What an amazing night!

One of the best experiences I’ve ever had!Anya

By Zarah, Kizzy and Anya

The choir have been practising hard this week and are sounding splendid!

Your child has been given a letter with all the information about the performance on the 22nd, including what they should bring on the day – please remember that they can wear either an official Young Voices T-shirt or a plain white one, and that they will not be able to take backpacks or large bags into the Arena.

The children will need two separate packed meals.  We will have our first picnic for lunch on the coach before we enter the venue.  Please make sure that your child has a separate packed tea in a carrier bag – this will be the only thing they will take in to the Arena as we will be leaving all other bags on the coach.  They should bring three drinks of juice or water – no glass bottles or cans, please.  It is also important that they know which meal is which!

On Wednesday next week we will be having our last rehearsal before the big day.  This will finish at 4:30 and we would like to invite parents and carers who would like to hear a ‘sneak preview’ of some of the songs we will be singing to join us at 4pm.

Remember to keep practising and learn those words!  You can find the lyrics as well as lyric and dance videos to help with this in the Young Voices Children’s Music Room.  If you can’t remember the password you can ask Miss Teale, Mrs Spain, Miss Chandler or another member of the choir to remind you!