THIS year's Kendal Calling festival marks the return of JamTent, which is coming back for the third time.

JamTent is a community project aimed at giving vulnerable young people the opportunity to play music with established and skilled musicians, as well as with others involved with the project.

It is run by Cumbrian charity MusicLinks and is funded by the Arts Council and Youth Music. It offers workshops in the area before taking participants to the festival to play. Previous years have seen the involvement of the likes of Billy Bragg.

Andy Halsey, chief executive of MusicLinks and director JamTent, said: "We just invite young people from disadvantaged backgrounds as well as mainstream youth groups and we teach them how to jam.

"We find that giving people the opportunity to play music is really empowering and really helps to build confidence. Something that is really important to us is equality.

"Lots of the people we work with have a disability, and we want to give them the opportunity to play and make music with people they wouldn't normally get the chance to.

"The music around here is great; there are so many talented people. We are always looking to work with local bands and we invite them to our workshops. Then at the festival we work with local bands as well as getting some of the big names involved as well."

Over its three years of existence at Kendal Calling, JamTent has received a great deal of positive feedback for the work it does with young people.

Speaking of his involvement in the project last year, folk legend Billy Bragg said: "The warmth of feeling in the JamTent was one of the highlights of my weekend at the festival."

The tent has attracted an eclectic mix of musicians, with Manchester psych band The Watchmakers joining in one year, along with folk groups and funk bands.

"Without Kendal Calling's generosity we couldn't do what we do," said Mr Halsey. "They have supported us so well as a charity."

"JamTent is a way that this fantastic festival can help out and give back to the local community."

More information about the workshops can be found on the MusicLinks website.