County's pupils shine in music and literature

Youngsters competed in 116 classes and 31 sections, from choirs to poetry. It culminated on Sunday evening in two winners' concerts in the school's Memorial Hall.

Nine-year-old Eleanor Corr, from the Mill School in Potterne, took the William Dauntsey Trophy for the best performance at the junior concert with her sparky Hillbilly rendition of She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain on violin. Eleanor not only took the prize for violin solo, nine and under, but tied with three other singers for the vocal solo, eight and under. She enchanted Sunday evening's audience by singing the Song of the Parrot, a variation on Polly Put the Kettle On, by Betty Roe.

Adjudicators Alison Cox, Alan Harwood and Lesley Cook also commended James Thomas and James Louca for their piano duet of Lesley Fly's Chinese Dance, Laura Sexton's recital of TS Eliot's Macavity from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, and Pewsey's St Francis School choir's traditional Negro spiritual, Hand Me Down My Silver Trumpet.

Other young performers included six-year-old Rose White who delighted the audience with her verse speaking of Sugarcake Bubble by Grace Nichols, nine-year-old Tobie Tripp's piano performance of a morris dance and lullaby by Walter Carroll, and 11-year-old Charlotte Damper from St Francis School who recited Wordsworth's Westminster Bridge and read from Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass.

Frances Copp, ten, played two piano pieces by Burgmuller while Katherine Gist, 11, played Men of Harlech and Annie Laurie on the tenor recorder.

Katherine, another St Francis pupil, won the Oram Cup for versatility after topping several different classes in a variety of disciplines.

Amy Hodder, winner of the vocal solo, ten and under, performed the Song of the Shell by Betty Roe, while ten-year-old Francesca Irving from St Joseph's RC Primary School in Devizes played two pieces on the descant recorder.

The Chalumeau Trio from Kingsbury Hill House School in Marlborough, comprising Caroline Frier, Abigail Caterer and Katy Vincent, gave a charming rendition of My Grandfather's Clock on clarinets.

From the first note of the Nova Recorder Ensemble of Devizes' set, visitors to the senior concert knew they were in for a musical treat.

There were virtuoso performances on violin from Anna Stacey, Rachel Barnes and Alice Little; on piano from Harriet Hayward, Madeleine Maxwell-Hart and Dominic Irving; on oboe from Nicholas Curzon and on double bass from Phillip Lawton.

But the performance which most impressed audience and adjudicators alike was that of Tom Fox on tuba. His rendition of Penderecki's Capriccio put paid to any preconception that the tuba is the lumbering elephant of the orchestra. The fast-moving, humorous piece gave ample scope for Tom, a pupil at Hardenhuish School in Chippenham, to show his virtuosity.

The adjudicators also commended The Nova Ensemble's brilliant performance of a hornpipe and a piece called Time for Comedy, with shades of Loony Tunes about it, under the baton of Michael Oliver, the Eisteddfod's honorary president.

Nicholas Curzon's oboe recital of two movements from Handel's Sonata in F Major and Dominic Irving's magical realisation of Rachmaninov's Pulchinella also caught their eye.

Some may have felt it unfair they made no mention of Rachel Barnes and Alice Little's technically brilliant performance of the first movement of Bach's Concerto in D Minor. Miss Barnes's solo of a movement from Tchaikovsky's violin concerto showed style and panache.

The Simon May Trophy for original composition was presented by Mr May, patron of the Eisteddfod and a renowned composer of TV themes, to ten-year-old Jessica Gamble of the Mill School.

Her Night Journey, which she performed on piano, was evocative of a train journey through darkened countryside.

Awards were presented by the Mayor of Devizes Ray Parsons and Simon May paid tribute to Eisteddfod director Chris Thompson and his team for their professional organisation of the event.