YOUNG musical maestros will show off their talents when the thriving Bury Music Service stages its annual open day.

Parents are invited to attend the event at Mersey Drive CP School in Whitefield and to watch the youngsters as they rehearse.

About 280 school pupils from all over the borough are attached to Bury Music Service. The training includes the opportunity to undertake concert work and to perform in front of an audience.

The service boasts a choir, three concert bands, a chamber orchestra, string orchestra, junior strings, a junior brass group, saxophone group and brass group.

The open day is on Saturday, March 27, between 9.30am and 12.30pm. Director of studies, Mr Paul Jarvis, said: "We will have our normal rehearsal schedule on that day. The event will give parents the opportunity to sit in on rehearsals.

"Rather than just attend a concert and see the finished thing, we are giving them the chance to view what normally happens in preparation. They can wander round and our Friends' Association will be manning the refreshment area during the morning."

The Mayor of Bury, Councillor Wilf Davison, will be among the visitors. Last weekend, after a request from the mayor, Bury Music Service's small musical groups put on a concert in a packed St Mary's Church, Prestwich.

Meanwhile, the youth orchestra will be representing Bury at a concert at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester on April 2 and youngsters will be performing at All Saints Stand on April 24 as part of the church's concert season.

The Service's youth concert recently put on Peter and the Wolf at the Royal Northern College of Music. Mr Mike Pinder, head of Tottington Primary School, did the narration.