How Romsey Mill is helping bring young people together through music
"Romsey Mill is more than just a studio, It's a family"
Romsey Mill is a charity which was founded in 1980 by a series of churches to help support young people living around the Cambridgeshire area. Since then it has grown a lot with the support of visitors and the public. Now in the current day Romsey Mill is becoming known for something more and that is music. In 2018 Romsey Mill launched its music program. The group is formed of young people who are facing disadvantages in life. Throughout this feature I will be highlighting the many reasons the program was created and how it has brought young people together in a divided society.
Who is involved?
The project was founded by Karl Lewis who is a former member of Romsey Mill when he attended as a teenager. Now he is now a youth worker who specialises in music. With a grateful grant from The National Foundation of Youth Music the program was allowed to be funded to support young people.
Why did it start?
There are many reasons why Romsey Mill decided to launch a music program. One of these reasons is that many of the hardest to reach young people have an interest in urban music genres. Knowing this information makes it easier to support them through experienced leaders. Another reason is the abilty to offer people studio facilities to give them professional experiences and help them work towards the future.
Skills and Opportunities
Through this programme young people learn a lot of new skills and experiences. These include lyric writing, Performance, Recording and Producing. When asked if they had improved these skills since joining 100% of all members agreed. All of these skills were used when recording the group’s first album "The light Amongst Sinners" which was released January 25 2019.
To help develop these skills further Romsey Mill has set up it's own record label titled "Turntable Records".
Prior to having the main studio sessions many young people have been involved in extra activities provided by Romsey Mill. In 2018 2 people were chosen to attend training to deliver studio sessions as part of the Sounds like Change project. This training helped develop character skills to help young people become leaders.
Since 2018, 145 young people were involved in Romsey Mill’s music program with 97 people attending regular sessions and 45 going on to perform at Rapademic.
Rapademic
Rapademic was created in 2018 to allow young people to showcase their musical talent. The majority of the music is Hip-hop, rap or grime. Since the organisation of this event there has been many benefits. One of these has not only benefitted Romsey Mill but also the community surrounding the area. Since launching the event existing tension between the different parts of Cambridge has been lessened by bringing young people from both sides of the city together in a positive environment. This method has proved successful from the beginning with 75% of the participants saying the event had helped ease the tensions between the different parts of the city. The following year the percentage rose to 100%.
Rapademic is held at "The Junction" which is a popular entertainment venue based in Cambridge. With the help of "The Junction" and the local police Rapademic has become a success with the event growing in representaion and audience size the overall feedback being positive.
