Isle of Wight singer songwriter and all-round brilliant musician, Paul Armfield, recently held a songwriting workshop for 11-13 year olds in Ventnor.
Taking part were Iris Litte, Darcy Marriner, Rowan Stritton, Ebb Phillips, Poppy Methold, Maya Robinson and Josh Ellis.
The session, organised by the workshop was organised by Ventnor Exchange for the Young Creatives scheme (part of Ventnor Youth Offer) and was held at Ventnor Exchange at the end of February.
Paul guided the young people through the creative process of songwriting and then recorded their words and music. The result is a catchy new anthem for Ventnor (see the video below).
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Paul told OnTheWight,
“The seven young people were an absolute joy to work with and a shining example of how to be diplomatic and respectful of one another’s ideas.
“We spent a long time exploring the concept of an anthem and held our own Eurovision Song Contest giving marks out of 10 for different national songs (Israel won hands down).”
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Paul went on to say,
“We also spent a long time deciding just how we should pronounce the name of the town in song as no-one pronounces it ‘Vent-NOR’ but more often ‘Vent-NA’ which we weren’t sure would work.
“So the rousing chorus was a very long time in the planning and half hour from the end of the session it was pretty much all we had, but then the suggestion of a melody came out of the group and a quick volley of couplets describing all that is great.”
Sign up for free workshops
Ventnor Exchange are always looking for more young creatives (aged 11-19) to sign up. All workshops are all free and you can sign up through Ventnor Exchange.
Image: © Laura Clare Reid
