Professional musicians will be on hand to help aspiring young musicians learn how to pen their own songs.

Free songwriting workshops, organised by Essex Music Services (part of Essex County Council), are taking place in Colchester, Chelmsford and Brentwood on Sunday, 24 April.

The three hour sessions, aimed at young people aged 8 to 18, will take place at Colchester Arts Centre (11am to 2pm), Cramphorn Theatre, Chelmsford (12noon to 3pm), and the Hermit Club, Brentwood (11am to 2pm).

The workshops form part of the MusicNet East project, which is funded by the National Foundation for Youth Music and is a collaboration between Essex, Hertfordshire and Cambridgshire Music Education Hubs.

They will teach the young people song writing techniques and enable them to write and record their own song, as well as have the opportunity to enter it into a regional songwriting competition.

Places are limited. To book, email tony@easternroots.co.uk or call 07966 390802.

Cllr Ray Gooding, Essex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, said: “This is an excellent opportunity for aspiring young musicians to find out more about writing their own songs.

“I hope the workshops will provide a good insight into life as a musician and possibly even inspire some of them to pursue a career in music.”