2011 Tournament of Song - the dates for the academic year have just been published and due to this the dates for the tournament have been rearranged.  They will now be March 21st to 25th 2011 for the speech classes and March 28th to April 1st 2011 for the music classes.

 Thank you to every-one who took part in our Centenary Tournament of Song.

We had a wonderful fortnight and once again we were well supported by fantastic audiences at every session.  This really does make a difference from a performance point of view and is what makes our festival so special.

The Wensleydale Tournament of Song is a tradition for a lot of families and schools but it would not be able to take place if it wasn't for the generous support we receive from volunteers.  It takes a full year to plan and organise the fortnight and the Tournament committee are already planning next year but for the fortnight of the actual tournament we are very lucky to have the help of many local people who become our door stewards, platform stewards etc and a big thankyou must go to them.

Our 2009 Tournament was another fantastic fortnight with many talented people taking part - never mind Britains Got Talent - Wensleydale's Got Talent!

Carol Schroder was our Speech Adjudicator and Colin Touchin was our Music Adjudicator and we thoroughly enjoyed their company and they thoroughly enjoyed our unique and friendly festival.

International adjudicator and distinguished musician, Michael Hancock, described this year's Wensleydale Tournament of Song as fabulous and amazing.

he is not the only adjudicator who has enjoyed adjudicating at the tournament which is renowned for its family atmosphere, large audiences and fun.

In 2006 Margaret Venables commented: " This has always been the friendliest of festivals.  It is unique."

And Cally Foster, who adjudicated the speech classes that year, described it as a wonderful, happy festival.  "It has such a happy atmosphere with terrific numbers of entrants particularly amongst the youngsters".

At the annual general meeting Stan Roocroft said he would continue as president as he would like to lead the tournament in its centenary year.  It will celebrate 100 years of actual tournaments in 2010.

The Wensleydale Tournament of Song 2009 took place in The Methodist Hall, Leyburn and once again was very well supported.  The committee would like to say a huge thank you to every-one who took part and also thanks go to all who support by coming to listen or to steward - we are very grateful that in such a rural area we have so many interested and talented people!!

The Methodist Church Hall in Leyburn is often full during the Wensleydale Tournament of Song

Marie Dixon enjoys an impromptu workshop with those from the Wensleydale School who took part in the dramatic group speaking class.

Michael Hancock talks to some of the school children who were eager to learn more about music-making.

The Wensleydale Tournament of Song 2010 Syllabus will be available to download soon.  I will leave the syllabus from 2009 available until the 2009 one is ready so that if you are interested you can still have a look!! -   so come on all you budding performers download a copy from the syllabus link along with the entry form!!   We promise that the welcome you get will be friendly and constructive with an honest assessment of your work being given to you by the country's top adjudicators.  Follow the link here for a downloadable version of the syllabus and entry form.

If you have never heard of our tournament before and wonder what it's all about please browse the syllabus it is full of information about the classes available for you to enter and if you don't fancy entering then it is a fantastic fortnight and the best value for money entertainment.