WILTSHIRE Music Centre has taken over the running of the two top youth orchestras in the county facing cuts to run them.

It comes after the £247,000 budget for the Wiltshire Music Service (WMS), which is funded by Wiltshire Council, may be slashed this year as part of £30m savings the council needs to make.

But from September, two of the six orchestras groups have their future secured, as they are now going to be run by the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon with support from Wiltshire Music Connect and Arts Council England. They are Wiltshire Youth Jazz Orchestra and Wiltshire and Swindon Youth Orchestra.

Executive director of Wiltshire Music Centre Clare Jack said: “We are really excited about it, it’s a big step for us and we think it’s a fantastic opportunity.

"It means for us taking a business risk because we have to run it effectively, but we think we can because of the other work we do here and we will be maintaining its very high quality.”

Mrs Jack also said that they are looking forward to working more closely with the wider group of music tutors from the WMS, who help train and prepare young musicians for a place in the Youth Orchestra.

She added: “It makes sense we continue it as its home has always been here and we can offer the students more opportunities because we are a professional concert hall. We are also a charity and we can raise money in a way Wiltshire Council couldn’t.”

The re-organisation will also offer the opportunity to work with Wiltshire Young Musicians and Salisbury Area Young Musicians, which form part of the feeder network into the Youth Orchestra.

The centre is in discussions to expand the Youth Orchestra as well to work with music services in Bath and Gloucestershire among other areas.

When the news was first announced about Wiltshire Council’s proposal to stop Wiltshire Music Service, parents were quick to voice their concerns about the impact of losing the service and possible redundancy of the 10 full-time administration staff and 76 music teachers and conductors for the bands, employed by the council.

An online petition to save it also received nearly 6,000 signatures but Mrs Jack said a briefing with parents about the orchestras being managed by the music centre has been met with positivity.

However other musical groups are yet to be told what the future will be and if the WMS is cut what impact it will have.