On Friday, 8th February a new Music Works headquarters was formally opened at Rodborough School in Milford, Surrey by Neil Cowley an acclaimed pianist who has worked with artists including Adele. Neil won ‘Artist of the Year’ at the Jazz FM Awards in 2013. Also in attendance were local MP Jeremy Hunt, Cllr Nick Williams the Mayor of Godalming, Cllr’s Simon Inchbald and Dennis Leigh, representatives from Witley Parish Council, Guildford Lions, Haslemere Fringe Festival and a number of local supporters.
At the opening ceremony Jeremy Hunt praised the project commenting “I am very impressed by the quality and range of facilities available through Music Works and look forward to seeing Rodborough’s development.”
The new building marks the start of a collaboration between Music Works and Rodborough as they aim to work together to promote music and arts in South West Surrey. The new location and building will allow Music Works to develop as a hub for music tuition in schools across the local area. There are already Music Works centres in 9 local primary schools, including The Chandler, Milford, and St Bartholomew’s in Haslemere.
In addition, Music Works already runs a range of activities and taster lessons in many local primary and secondary schools as well as at Rodborough itself.
The Headteacher of Rodborough, Matthew Armstrong-Harris, said at the opening “both Rodborough and Music Works realised that we had a common goal of supporting young people in the area to enjoy music through learning to play an instrument or sing. In a time when there is much being written regarding the decline in arts funding we are taking a positive step to promote the arts within our community.” He added; “We are in the process of creating an ambitious plan to develop the school site for the benefit of our students and the wider community. Collaborating with Music Works to help realise an important part of that vision was a natural step for us. Music Works have a phenomenal track record when it comes to promoting music and are infectiously passionate about the arts. We see the opening of this facility as the first step towards our ultimate goal to create a community arts centre on the site, promoting and supporting drama and dance in addition to music.”
By hosting the centre on site students at the school are now able to access the centre’s facilities during the school day. This includes a wide range of instruments, computers to aid composition and state of the art digital recording facilities. Mr Armstrong-Harris noted that he was “extremely grateful to Music Works for the investment in and commitment to the school”. He was “confident that the partnership would not only benefit his students in the coming years, but that it would prove to be an asset for the whole community.”
The Music Works facility is open in the evening and at weekends throughout the year. It provides music lessons to people of all ages who wish to learn to play for fun. For those who are serious about their musical ambitions, Music Works is an accredited Yamaha Centre and meets Yamaha’s exacting standards for high quality music tuition.
