I find it very hard to believe that Bromley Council should even be considering such drastic and far-reaching funding cuts for BYMT. Bromley musicians have shown in an exceptional way what young people can achieve, given the right support.

They have made their mark, both nationally and inter-nationally, with their dedication, talent and profession-alism. The bands, orchestras and chamber groups are a credit to the borough and deserve full support. Having had such a successful year in 2001 it is rather ironic that the council now wants to pull the rug from under them.

Peter Mawson and his team do a "Rolls-Royce" job, as Michael Tickner correctly said, and the work of the Trust could never be matched by the schools. The coun-cil would

be doing the youth of Bromley a huge disservice if the Music Centre had to close. Since BYMT is a hugely suc-cessful venture, currently training more than 5000 young people, isn't it rather short-sighted to suggest phasing it out? Bromley is not exactly brimming over with things for young people to do, so why get rid of something that obviously works?!

Janice Tibble

The Avenue

West Wickham

December 5, 2001 13:07