THE syllabus is now available for the 68th Herefordshire Festival for Music, Dance, Speech and Drama, 2002.

This year the woodwind and string classes have been graded in line with examination boards in the hope that both teachers and pupils will find this more helpful.

An improvisation class has also been added, where the adjudicator will set a theme 15 minutes prior to the commencement of the class and the performers will be asked to create a scene using dialogue and action. A guitar workshop will follow the guitar classes, held by Gerald Garcia and places for the workshop can be booked in advance.

The closing date for festival entries is Wednesday, January 16. The festival office in Castle Street no longer exists but entry forms can be obtained with the syllabus on 01981 250899.