Oh, what a night!

By Colin Grant THE CREAM of Scotland’s young music and dance talent has joined The Sunday Post’s hospice appeal — and together we’re proud to present a unique concert which will be shown on BBC Scotland on St Andrew’s Night. The Spirit Of Youth show will take place in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and will be compered by Sally Magnusson. The programme, which features seven of the country’s top youth acts, is the brainchild of the Variety Club in Scotland and the Friends of CHAS. Never before has such a glittering array of young stars joined together under one roof for what promises to be a very special night. The proceedings will feature:— The Royal Scottish National Orchestra Junior Chorus, regarded as the best in their field. Its members, 120 schoolchildren aged 7-17, have performed and recorded with the RSNO, appeared on the BBC and at the Edinburgh Festival. TARA. This dance team from Uddingston are the only foreign competitors to win the All Ireland Traditional Dance Championship, held every year in Dublin.  Tara won that prestigious trophy five times in a row from 1995-1999. They didn’t win it last year, but there’s a reason — they didn’t enter it!  The MacNaughton Vale of Atholl Junior Pipes and Drums. Fifty-seven children aged 9-18 from schools in Perthshire and Tayside represent the best of young Scottish pipe bands.  Over the years they’ve won every title available to them and last month took part in a special concert with the King of Norway’s Royal Guard. The Norwegians were so impressed, they wrote to Pipe Major Sharon Kelly expressing their amazement that those so young performed so well. The Dance School of Scotland. This unique centre of excellence for young ballet and music theatre students is situated within Knightswood Secondary School, Glasgow.  They regularly supply young dancers to ballet companies and many of their music theatre students have graduated to the bright lights of London’s West End.  The Dance School has 81 pupils aged 12-18, with 66 of them from as far afield as Inverness and Dumfries, living in halls of residence in Glasgow. The Lothian Schools Strathspey and Reel Society. Under their conductor Yla Steven they are among Scotland’s foremost fiddlers.  The society has 40 children aged 10-17 from 15 schools in the Lothians.  They have taken part in countless concerts and festivals on radio and television and last year won the Orchestral Competition at the Kirriemuir Fiddle Festival, Scotland’s most prestigious fiddle event. The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society. The Society’s East Stirlingshire branch will perform The CHAS Reels, which has been specially composed by James Hunter. The 16 dancers come from several schools in the area. West Lothian Schools Brass Band. This amazing 65-piece band have won every title imaginable. They are currently European Youth Champions.  Their honours in recent years include the Scottish and British Championships, BBC Young Band of the Year, and gold medal winners at the Sydney Opera House Festival. The band played at the opening of the Scottish Parliament and will repeat their specially-composed piece Devolution at the Royal Concert Hall. Jack Zimmer, of the Variety Club in Scotland, said, “We are delighted to support CHAS and The Sunday Post in their attempts to build a new children’s hospice for Scotland. “The Variety Club enjoy helping children who are disadvantaged or who have special needs. This month we have entertained 3000 children and their carers at M&D Amusement Park, Motherwell and at Codona’s in Aberdeen. We’ll also be taking 250 children and carers from Inverness for a cruise on Loch Ness. “We raised £87,500 towards the cost of building Rachel House and we are confident that through the Spirit of Youth Concert we will make a major contribution to The Sunday Post’s campaign.”

You can e-mail us at: hospice@sundaypost.com