FLUTE player extraordinaire Suzanne de Lozey is to share the stage with her flute orchestra for the very last time this weekend.

Renowned music teacher Suzanne, of Endmoor, is stepping down as musical director of Flutes & Co after 21 wonderful years. Held in high regard for her flute and piano playing, Suzanne is looking forward to having more time to devote to her many other musical interests.

The Flutes & Co concert this Saturday (July 11) at Arnside Methodist Church will showcase the flute's versatility and variety in a programme featuring Bach, Brahms and Irish jigs.

For Suzanne, the highlight of her years with the flute orchestra has been raising enough money to buy larger and rarer flutes, such as the bass, alto and contra bass. Their different pitches help to create Flutes & Co's unique, rich sound. "It makes the playing of the music much more interesting," said Suzanne.

Her love of the flute began as a 13-year-old living on Guernsey. With no music shop on the island, Suzanne's very first flute, a nickel-plated one, was purchased and flown over from London. She has been a passionate advocate of the flute ever since.

"I just love it. If I'm away from my flute for any length of time, it feels extraordinarily strange; it's like another limb, almost," said Suzanne.

"The flute can do lots of things. It's a melody instrument; you can play beautiful melodies on it. It's very akin to singing in that way, but at the same time you can make it quite aggressive and rhythmic, so it's got both things."

Flutes & Co started life in 1994 as a small marching flute band of six young players, known as the Sedgwick Flutes, and led by Suzanne.

Cumbria's only flute orchestra now has more than 25 players from across the North West and, as Suzanne explained, it has successfully bridged the gap between established flute groups in local schools and the excellent youth and amateur orchestras which can only accommodate a handful of flutists.

Thanks to Flutes & Co's own battery of larger flutes, its concert programmes have been able to include arrangements of large-scale orchestral works. And, since 1998, those concerts - at venues such as Cartmel Priory, with its superb acoustics - have raised more than £8,000 has been raised for good causes.

Although bidding farewell to Flutes & Co, Suzanne says she will continue to pursue all her other musical roles, such as teacher, flute and piccolo player in orchestras and chamber ensembles, and pianist for the tango ensemble, Fuga.

- Concert 7.30pm. Tickets £7.50 adults, £2.50 children, at the door or from www.wegottickets.com