YOUNG drummers added their beat to the music at St Edmund's School last week, as percussion classes were introduced to the Salisbury Young People's Festival for the first time.

The music festival's chairman, Lynda Smith, reported that entries overall were up on last year, with numbers for the speech and drama classes double those of previous years.

About 650 young people took part in the four-day festival at the Laverstock school.

Classes, including woodwind, keyboards, strings, brass, vocal, piano, prose and poetry, attracted entrants as young as three and four years old.

Schools from across the district entered choirs, bands and individuals and the festival also attracted top-quality adjudicators, including organist Anthony Froggatt, cellist Kay Tucker, pianist Mark Tanner and Lamda examiners Jill O'Hare and Rosemary Graham.

Mrs Smith said: "We've also had lots of volunteers coming in to be stewards this year. Support had dwindled but this is a positive sign that it is picking up."

A selection of young people will perform at the traditional post-festival concert at Godolphin School's Blackledge Theatre on March 28.

For the first time, the festival plans to take part in Salisbury Live in May, when music from jazz and hip-hop to rock and classical takes to the streets and venues around Salisbury as a forerunner to the Salisbury Festival.

Salisbury Live organiser Colin Holton said he had been delighted when the Young People's Festival organisers had approached him to take part in Salisbury Live and a venue had been found for the concert.

Mrs Smith said: "We are going to see how the concert slot at Salisbury Live takes off, but it's another opportunity to show what talent Salisbury has among its young people."

Next year will mark the festival's silver jubilee.