HUNDREDS of young musicians will descend on South Lakeland tomorrow (Saturday) to perform at the local stage of the annual Festival of Music for Youth.

The event - one of 60 festivals taking place across the country this spring - will take place at Cartmel Priory CE School from 10am-5pm and will see more than 430 musicians between the ages of three and 21 descend from across Cumbria and Lancashire.

Organised by Music for Youth, a charity dedicated to promoting music in education, and the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, the national event is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. In total it will involve more than 100,000 melody-makers, making it the biggest youth music festival series in the world.

Twenty-three groups from a variety of genres are expected to take part in tomorrow's festival, including five groups from Cartmel Music Centre, the Opera Babies of Penny Bridge CE Primary School near Ulverston, and the Kendal-based Brewery Youth Jazz Orchestra.

Depending how they perform, they could be among the 300 groups picked to perform at a national festival in July. A further 30 groups will be selected from the national event, and will appear at the Music For Youth Schools Prom at the Royal Albert Hall in November.

To find out more visit www.mfy.org.uk