Young people from The Factory Young People’s Centre put on a great show at an event to showcase their talents last week.
The Treblemakers event saw performances from young people who had been attending ‘choir’ sessions, alongside dancers – who all attend the youth centre – and guest singers from the E. R. Mason Youth Centre in Birmingham.
Most of the performers had been attending the Mouths From the South sessions at the centre. The group was run by youth worker Jo Burrows, who is passionate about singing and was part of Birmingham City Council’s choir which featured on the BBC’s ‘The Choir’ with Gareth Malone in 2014.
A temporary project, Mouths from the South welcomed young people of all musical abilities to enjoy fun sessions, building great supportive relationships with others and building confidence.
Compered by Jo (with her dry sense of humour!), The Treblemakers event at The Factory was a great place to test out their newly developed performance skills as the project drew to a close.
Most of the young people had never performed in front of others before and nerves were fraught as they took to the stage for the first time. However, with encouragement and support from their peers, all pulled off their performances for a fantastic show!
Dancers, Ryan, Ryan and Josh were joined by others to showcase their skills and Josh bravely performed a solo dance piece.
Four very talented young ladies from the E R Mason Youth Centre in Birmingham also performed.
Cllr Ian Cruise (Independent, Longbridge) attended the event. He said: “It was a privilege to attend the TrebleMakers performance. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to see the amazing Young People of South West Birmingham engaging with our brilliant youth workers and putting on an awesome performance of music and dance.
“People are quick enough to be negative about our local area, but last nights event showed the positives and how creative and engaging the Young People of South West Birmingham are.”
Cllr Cruise thanked staff and volunteers for engaging with young people and putting on the event. He said: “I will be speaking to the Head of Youth Services and the Chair of the Community Safety Partnership to ensure funding is sought for this excellent project to continue.”
It was great to see the young people being so supportive of each other and having so much fun with music and dance! We wish them all the best and hope future funding can be found to bring back Mouths from the South!
Well done, all!