Local violinist, Lily Whitehurst, is set to embark on a musical journey of a lifetime. She has been chosen to represent the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain in an exchange programme with the National Youth Orchestra of Bahia, who are based in Brazil.

She travels to London on July 4, where she will have two days of intense rehearsals with them followed by concerts in London and Lisbon. She will then fly to Brazil for a concert tour which will take in five cities in nine days.

Lily, who is 15-years-old and in year 10 at Greenhill School, is absolutely delighted and honoured to have been selected for this exchange, as she is one of only 10 to have been chosen, out of an orchestra of 160.

As a thank you for being given such an unique opportunity, Lily is trying to raise some much-needed money to support the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Each year the NYO gives fantastic performing and learning opportunities to 160 young people from across Britain, allowing them to work with some of the world's top conductors at all of the major concert venues in the country.

The orchestra costs around £1.2 million a year to run, and with no direct government funding, is very dependant on sponsorship and donations. This year they are running a scheme whereby members of the orchestra are asking to be sponsored to play Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique at the Proms on August 7.

If you would like to sponsor Lily, she has a page on the website justgiving.com.