The Rotary Club of Newark hands out Young Musician trophy and prizes

The Rotary Club of Newark has awarded this year’s Young Musician trophy and prizes ­— despite being unable to hold the final.

The club has continued to meet informally during the covid-19 lockdown.

The Young Musician competition had drawn entries from Barnby Road Academy, Coddington Church of England Primary, Chuter Ede and Highfields.

Its heats were held at Barnby Road Academy in March, but the final ­— due to be held at Barnbygate Methodist Church on March 25 ­— had to be cancelled.

The heats were judged by Vicky Thorpe and Nick Thorpe in four categories ­— brass, strings, woodwind and keyboard.

All competitors are said to have played beautifully and out of 51 entrants, 11 were chosen to go forward to the final.

Then covid-19 took hold and it had to be cancelled.

Knowing that the autumn might still prevent the final happening, Rotarians decided to award prizes from the scores pupils achieved in the heats.

As a result, Maggie Walsh (flute) Daniel Bateman (trombone) and Max Lane (violin) received prizes.

A delighted Jolene Zhi Lin Cai (piano) received the overall prize and the 2020 Young Musician trophy.

Covid-19 has prevented the club from meeting for lunch until at least September.

However, anyone interested in joining can be included its Zoom meetings.

The Newark club raise over £10,000 each year for local, national and international charities of members’ choosing.

In normal times they meet at the Deincourt Hotel for lunch twice each month.

Anyone interested should contact president Simon Shaw, at Duncan & Toplis, Newark, or the membership committee through David Shannon at david-shannon-lineone@hotmail.co.uk