MY three children are amongst the thousands that have benefitted immensely from music lessons provided by Wiltshire Music Services (WMS) and by taking part in the activities provided by Salisbury Area Young Musicians (SAYM). I support SAYM as a member and more recently as chairman of the Friends of Salisbury Area Young Musicians (FSAYM) committee, and liaise closely with WMS teachers.

I was therefore dismayed by a letter to the Journal in which councillors dismissed WMS as “an expensive intermediary” between teachers and schools. Wiltshire Music Services currently employs music teachers who will soon all be made redundant when it closes, and who will have to operate on a self-employed basis.

WMS staff work together, support each other and ensure music tuition is available on a wide range of instruments at a wide range of schools. It is hard to see how the Wiltshire Music Education Hub, which will not be employing music teachers, will be able to provide the same quality.

SAYM provides opportunities for local young people to play or sing in ensembles, perform in concerts (including in recent years at the Albert Hall,) and take part in tours.

When WMS is closed SAYM will need to become an independent organisation, and though we understand some funding will be provided through the Hub it is unclear for how long.

However clubs are only a small part of the Music Service provision, and once we lose a Music Service that strives to serve the vast majority of schools in Wiltshire, and thus enable the sort of young players who then joins clubs such as SAYM to learn an instrument, the chances are that Wiltshire will never get it back.

Françoise Wynn

Downton