Students from The Rock Project Aberystwyth held their first gig for the first time in a year and a half.

The students “pulled out all the stops” on the evening of Tuesday, 13 July, to perform an exclusive gig, for family and friends only, after having not played in public for 18 months.

Lisa Wordley, who runs the Rock Project in Aberystwyth, said: “It was a difficult event to arrange, which meant a lot of health and safety planning so that we could ensure as much public and student safety as possible and comply with current Covid-19 protocols for event planners.

“The students were brilliant and the hard work they had put in during the sessions that we ran online during the lockdown, and then in this last term when we went back to face to face teaching, really showed as they looked really confident and relaxed whilst performing.”

The students, who were aged seven to 16, and the adults played songs from Blur, Republica, The Black Veil Brides, and many more.

Tutor and local artists Rob Young added: “It was so exciting to see both the kids and the adults playing in front of an audience, they were so good.

“I’ve only just started gigging myself again and these are the sort of events that really lift you up.”

While Covid-19 has been a struggle for the project, Lisa said they were able to get the sessions online: “Aside from it being hard to be on Zoom all the time, it went quite well.

“The problem we found, was it did show up some disparities between areas. The broadband connection for Aberystwyth was horrific, so the Aberystwyth students were having more of a battle Zoom.

“Whereas predominantly the Shrewsbury students were fine. That’s what we found very hard and very unfair, when you’re trying to give something to a group of students and you can see a certain group really struggling.”

To watch the Rock Project’s performance, please visit their Facebook page: The Rock Project Aberystwyth.

The Rock Project, which has over 70 schools across the UK, runs sessions in Aberystwyth on Tuesday evenings. Children and teenagers, aged seven to 16, and adults, in the ‘encore’ sessions, can learn guitar, drums, bass and vocals, as well as play as a band weekly.

To book a free taster sessions for September, when sessions restart in Aberystwyth, go to www.therockproject.com