A TALENTED youngster scored a hit when his football chant was picked as the winner of a song-writing competition. Children were invited to write the lyrics for an inspiring Song for the Terraces to spur on AFC Bournemouth during the season.

Competition winner eight-year-old Myles Curtis heard his winning football chant arranged by Armonico Consort’s composer-in-residence, Toby Young, and sung by hundreds of performers and audience members at a concert at Lighthouse Poole.

Myles was presented with a signed shirt by AFC Bournemouth chairman, Jeff Mostyn. Runners up were Xander Exley, eight, and Olivia Head, six.

More than 150 children from five of the region’s schools came together for a performance of Beowulf, a new re-telling of the ancient saga of magical beasts and an heroic prince, set to music by Toby Young. The school choirs are all part of Armonico Consort’s singing education programme AC Academy through its Choir Creation scheme, delivered in partnership with SoundStorm (lead partner for the Bournemouth & Poole Music Education Hub).

Jeff Mostyn gave an inspirational speech to all the children involved and said the route to to success was “hard work, hard work, and more hard work”, something he felt was reflected in their commitment to the project.

Soloists were soprano Elin Manahan Thomas (who sang at the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle), harpist Anne Denholm (official harpist to HRH The Prince of Wales) and renowned wine expert and broadcaster Oz Clarke who narrated the role of Beowulf. Armonico Consort’s choir of professional singers was conducted by Artistic Director Christopher Monks, with Toby Young on keyboards.