The Berkshire Young Musicians Trust | |
 | |
| Formation | 25 October 1982 |
|---|---|
| Legal status | Limited company, Registered charity |
| Purpose | Extra-curricular music education |
| Headquarters | Reading |
Region served | Berkshire |
Membership | Private |
| Jon Carroll | |
| Dawn Wren | |
Main organ | Board of trustees |
Staff | ~260 |
| Website | berksmusictrust |
Formerly called | Berkshire Maestros |
The Berkshire Young Musicians Trust (trading as Berkshire Music Trust) is a music education charity operating in Berkshire, United Kingdom. [1]
The Berkshire Young Musicians Trust (BYMT) was founded in 1982. Between 2006 and 2023 it traded as Berkshire Maestros, [2] after which it was rebranded the Berkshire Music Trust. [3]
The charity's aim is to bring music to a wider audience, and encourage children to play a musical instrument, sing, or play music in a group with others. [4]
The charity teaches over 6,000 children in schools, bands, orchestras and choirs, and has centres in Bracknell, Newbury, Windsor, Reading and Wokingham. [5] Tuition covers a wide range of instruments, including vocals, guitar, keyboard, percussion, brass, strings and woodwind in a range of styles, and composition. [6]
Following the renaming ceremony coinciding with 40th birthday celebrations in the summer of 2023, Berkshire Music Trust adopted a new strap-line, "Making Music for Everyone", signalling their intent to expand their offerings to all ages in the Berkshire community, building upon their Parkinson's Sing-along Cafe and Dementia Sing-along Cafe. [7]
In 2024, Berkshire Music Trust was awarded new generation Music Hub status by Arts Council England. [8]
In 2007, the charity's choir appeared at the BBC Proms, [9] and alongside Southbank Sinfonia at the Windsor Festival. [10] In 2014, the organisation was awarded a grant from the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation. [11] On 1 May 2016, around 1,500 of the Berkshire Maestros students performed a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Primary school choirs from West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead performed songs from musicals such as Mamma Mia! , Oliver! and The Jungle Book . [12]
On 19 October 2018, the Bracknell concert band played to Elizabeth II at The Lexicon, Bracknell. [13] In 2023, the charity's county choir and string ensemble played at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle culminating in a performance of Zadok the Priest . [14]
In 2024, Bracknell, Windsor, Newbury and Reading Senior Wind Bands united to form the Berkshire County Massed Wind Bands, to perform Brian Balmages' Rapture at the Anvil Theatre in Basingstoke.[ citation needed ]
The Royal County of Berkshire, commonly known as simply Berkshire, is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London to the east, Surrey to the south-east, Hampshire to the south, and Wiltshire to the west. Reading is the largest settlement and the county town.
Wokingham is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, 37 miles (60 km) west of London, 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Reading, 8 miles (13 km) north of Camberley and 4 miles (6 km) west of Bracknell. It is the main administrative centre of the wider Borough of Wokingham. In 2011 it had a population of 50,320.
West Berkshire is a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England. It is administered from Newbury by West Berkshire Council.
The Borough of Wokingham is a local government district with borough status in Berkshire, England. It is named after its main town, Wokingham. Other places in the district include Arborfield, Barkham, Charvil, Earley, Finchampstead, Hurst, Remenham, Ruscombe, Shinfield, Sonning, Spencers Wood, Three Mile Cross, Twyford, Wargrave, Winnersh and Woodley. The population of Wokingham is 177,500 according to 2021 census.
Crowthorne is a village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest district of south-eastern Berkshire, England. It had a population of 7,806 at the 2021 census. Crowthorne is the venue of Wellington College, a large co-educational boarding and day independent school, which opened in 1859, and of Broadmoor Hospital, one of England's three maximum-security psychiatric hospitals, which lies on the eastern edge of the village.
Reading Transport Limited, trading as Reading Buses, is an English municipal bus operator owned by Reading Borough Council, serving the towns of Reading, Bracknell, Newbury, Slough, Windsor, Maidenhead, Wokingham and the surrounding areas in the counties of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey and Hampshire, as well as parts of Greater London.
A civil parish is a country subdivision, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 104 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, most of the county being parished; Reading is completely unparished; Bracknell Forest, West Berkshire and Wokingham are entirely parished. At the 2001 census, there were 483,882 people living in the 104 parishes, accounting for 60.5 per cent of the county's population.
Newbury is a constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, located in the English county of Berkshire. It was created by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 and has been in continual existence since then. It has been represented by Lee Dillon of the Liberal Democrats since 2024.
Wokingham is a constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, located in the English county of Berkshire. From its creation in 1950 until 2024, it was represented solely by Conservatives, most notably, John Redwood, who held his position from 1987 until 2024 when he stepped down after the dissolution of parliament.
Maidenhead is a constituency in Berkshire represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by Joshua Reynolds, a Liberal Democrat, since 2024. Following its creation at the 1997 general election, the seat was held for twenty-seven years by Conservative Member of Parliament Theresa May, who served as Home Secretary from 2010 to 2016 and as Prime Minister from 2016 to 2019.
Windsor (/ˈwɪnzə/) is a constituency in Berkshire, currently represented by Jack Rankin of the Conservative Party. It was re-created for the 1997 general election after it was abolished following the 1970 general election and replaced by the Windsor and Maidenhead constituency.
Bracknell is a constituency in Berkshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Peter Swallow, from the Labour Party. It was created for the 1997 general election, largely replacing the abolished county constituency of East Berkshire.
The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS foundation trust responsible for the management of the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, Berkshire, as well as the Prince Charles Eye Unit and the Dialysis Unit, both in Windsor; Bracknell Healthspace, Townlands Hospital in Henley-on-Thames, and West Berkshire Community Hospital, which is between Newbury and Thatcham.
First Beeline Buses Limited, trading as First Beeline, is a bus operator providing services in and around Slough. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
Thames Valley Buses Limited, trading as Thames Valley Buses, is a bus company based in Bracknell, England. It was known as Courtney Buses until 2021. Founded in 1973, the company operates a network of commercial and contracted local bus services and school buses in Berkshire, north Hampshire and small parts of Oxfordshire, Surrey and Buckinghamshire. In March 2019 it was purchased by Reading Buses, with the company having gradually rebranded to its current name between October 2019 and April 2021.
Reading is a town in the English county of Berkshire.
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