Patsy Quinn

Music is the most important thing in my life; John Miles had it right: Music is my first love and it will be my last. I grew up in a musical family - both amateurs and professionals - and went to school in Halifax when all instrumental lessons were free and I learned the violin at junior school before turning to the clarinet at high school.

During my degree, I was part of the church choir and attended Horsforth Music Centre where I was in the swing band and concert band.

Part of my degree included work experience - probably what would now be termed an internship - and part of mine was with...Yorkshire Youth & Music, then at Glyde House in Bradford. It was a very different organisation then, offering Sunday Cushion Concerts in art galleries across the whole of Yorkshire, alongside cheap tickets to music (opera, jazz, ballet, folk, classical) across Yorkshire for anyone aged 0-29. It was the best job I ever had and cemented my belief that all children should have free access to all types of music.