Student groups to take centre stage

AN annual collaboration between Ballarat school bands and the Lions Club of Sebastopol and District is set to return later this month with an evening of traditional music.

Students will hit the stage as part of the School Bands Extravaganza’s seventh incarnation with four acts taking part in this year’s lineup.

Lions Club of Sebastopol and District member and the event’s organiser Ron Thomas said the show is all about getting the young performers in front of a crowd.

“It’s a combination of four bands who come together to play on the night,” he said.

“It’s a good opportunity for them to come together and play in front of an audience and in front of each other. They really enjoy that sort of work.

“They have opportunities to play in their school environment but I don’t think they get much opportunity to attend nights like this where they can really play in front of a paying audience.”

The lineup will include Mount Clear College’s and Phoenix P12 Community College’s concert bands, as well as The Accidentals from Woodman’s Hill Secondary School, and Ballarat High School’s Whizbang, with the latter rotating with the institution’s larger BOB band.

Proceeds from the evening will go towards the Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre with past concerts resulting in a $1500 donation earlier this year.

Mr Thomas said the centre is their regular beneficiary.

“Just recently, those funds went towards their wellness centre,” he said. “We sort of took them under our wing many years ago and it’s a longer ongoing thing we’ve supported.

“The idea isn’t to be a fundraising event like Lions often does. It’s to give students the opportunity to do what they do and if we can make money out of it, that’s secondary.”

The event will run from 7pm on Tuesday 22 August at Woodmans Hill Secondary College.

Entry is $5 for adults and a gold coin donation from children under 15 years old.