Aylesbury pupils in Bucks Young Musicians use the power of music to help Ukraine

Aylesbury pupils in the Bucks Young Musicians group are using the power of music to help the aid effort in Ukraine.

As conflict escalates in Ukraine, putting millions of children and their families in immediate danger, five talented young Buckinghamshire musicians felt moved to do something to help.

Emma Harrington, Thomas Harrington, Lucy Howitt, Iris Kayakiran and Jude Kayakiran came together last year to organise a concert in Wendover and raised £1,500 for Ukraine. Now they are performing to raise money again, this time at the Amersham Festival of Music on the April 23rd.

All profits raised will go to support UNICEF’s work in Ukraine.

The talented young musicians play to an extremely high level and, between them, attend the Junior department at the Royal Academy of Music, Bucks County Youth Groups (orchestra, choir and wind ensemble) and are also regular winners at music festivals and competitions. In fact, Emma Harrington has just won the Bucks Young Musician of the Year Award.

All of the young starlets are still in secondary school at the likes of the Aylesbury Grammar, Aylesbury High School and Dr Challoner’s High School and are studying for A levels and GCSEs this summer.

But they continue to give their time and talents to help Ukraine and UNICEF’s work there as they feel so passionately about the cause.

Performer Jude Kayakiran says: "Young people our age have been going through hell in Ukraine, trying to survive the violence and come to terms with huge losses - their families, their homes, their country. You only have to look at the reports on horrific events such as the complete destruction of Bucha and the mass kidnapping of children and sending them to Russia to realise just how lucky we are that the only thing we need to worry about are our exam grades."

Fellow performer Emma Harrington added: "We're delighted to be able to perform a concert at the Amersham Festival of Music in aid of children in Ukraine, and grateful that we will be able to donate all our profits to support UNICEF's work in a country that has seen the kind of war and devastation that we had only previously read about in history books. It's a real privilege to be able to use our musical talents to help in any way we can."

UNICEF is especially concerned for the safety and wellbeing of children who have become separated from their families. It has been working around the clock to keep children safe. They are helping to make sure that child health and protection services are sustained, and families have clean water and nutritious food.The young musicians are urging people of Aylesbury and Bucks to help to protect children in Ukraine by attending the Amersham Festival of Music Ukraine concert on Sunday April 23rd at 2.30pm in St Mary's Church, Amersham. Tickets are £10, students are free. You can book tickets on the website.But if you can’t make the concert and would still like to support Ukraine aid effort, the performers have set up a Just Giving page.