PERCUSSIONISTS from Thanet will play at the Royal Albert Hall in the autumn as part of a celebration of youth music.

Advanced class members of the Thanet Community Percussion School were highly commended for their energetic and innovative performances at the National Festival of Music for Youth at the Royal Festival Hall, London, earlier this year.

Now they are among a select group that has been invited to take part in the Music for Youth Schools Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on November 3, 4 and 5.

Molly Hollman, head of music at Chatham House Grammar School at Ramsgate that developed and runs the community classes, said: “Out of hundreds and hundreds of entries, only 30 have been invited to perform at the Royal Albert Hall. This is a great achievement considering the percussion school was only formed through lottery funding a few years ago.”

The players are Matt Wharton, Ben Mayo, Jacqueline Titmus, Craig Turp, Andrew Ruck, Jess White, Emma Whitehead, Lorraine Baker, Jack Messenger, Oliy Joyce, Amy White, Leo Gallagher, and Alex Gore.

They range in age from 14 - 18 and have been attending the lottery-funded percussion school for several years.