THE organiser of one of Oxfordshire’s biggest music festivals is running a competition to find talented young musicians in primary schools.

Cornbury Music Festival organiser, Hugh Phillimore, will be giving away free weekend tickets for two adults and two children to winners from each of the nine primary schools taking part.

The competition comes off the back of a Battle of the Bands competition, held at Chipping Norton School earlier in the year to find an act to open the main stage on the Saturday.

The winning band, Relay, were made up of sixth-formers Jamie Biles, Andy Thomas, and Sam Griffiths.

Mr Phillimore said: “I’ve been so impressed by the wealth of talent I have already seen at Chippie School, I’m keen to expand the competition to other schools as soon as possible.

“Live music has always been at the centre of my life, and I still try to see at least a couple of bands each week.

“I’m always happy to be involved helping new bands, because, of course, they are the future of this business.

“I’ll help and encourage new talent whenever I can.”

All the primary schools taking part in this latest competition are feeder schools for Chipping Norton School.

Chipping Norton School headteacher, Simon Duffy, will be one of those helping to find the winners from the nine primary schools, that include Charlbury; Chadlington; Enstone; Great Tew; Holy Trinity, Crawley; Hook Norton; Kingham; Great Rollright, and St Mary’s, Chipping Norton.

Mr Duffy said he thought the competition could take the form of a short talent contest.

He added: “It is great to showcase burgeoning talent in this way and I’m grateful to Hugh for giving Relay this opportunity and for giving younger pupils the chance to demonstrate what they are capable of.

“One of the greatest pleasures that teaching gives you is experiencing the wonderful abilities that young people have.”

The festival, near Charlbury, will be taking place on Saturday, July 11, and Sunday, July 12.

This year’s acts include Scouting For Girls, Sugababes, The Pretenders, The Magic Numbers, and Texas frontwoman Sharleen Spiteri.