PRIMARY school pupils from seven Yorkshire Dales schools have been working with the county music service on a project that resulted in a big sing under the arches of Ribblehead viaduct.

More than 300 children from Ingleton, Austwick, Giggleswick, Settle, Long Preston and Hellifield primary schools, as well as the independent Giggleswick Junior School, gathered at Ribblehead to sing three folk songs with a Yorkshire flavour, including one about the building of the Victorian Settle to Carlisle railway. The viaduct, a stunning grade II listed structure, carries the railway over the Ribble Valley.

The Big Sing initiative was a partnership between North Yorkshire’s Music Service and the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust to enable children to join together to sing under the Ribblehead viaduct arches as a way of getting them to understand and take pride in their heritage and history.

Pupils had been rehearsing separately in their own schools with support from Ian Bangay, head of the Music Service in the weeks leading up to the viaduct performance.

They then gathered to rehearse the songs altogether at Clapham Church during the morning before being transported to the viaduct for their performance in the afternoon.

“It was an incredible experience to go from rehearsing in the classroom to performing with hundreds of pupils at such an iconic venue,” said Ian. “This project was a great way through music to get young people interested in and passionate about the beauty of the area from an early age.”