Never has the Wyvern stage been so full of talent and potential as it was for this year's Summer Youth Project performance of The Little Mermaid. 

Over 120 children across a huge age range - all from in and around the Swindon and Wiltshire area - lit up the stage for one of the most entertaining and impressive amateur shows you will ever see. 

And to make things even more impressive, the entire cast as well as the backstage and technical team also made up of young people, only got together to begin rehearsals eleven days before their opening performance on Thursday. 

As someone who has once performed on the Wyvern Stage - as Isambard Kingdom Brunel of all people - I know what a special opportunity it is and also how daunting it can be. 

But the huge cast of youngsters, too many to name but many of which will absolutely have a career in performing arts if that's what they want, took to it, well, like a mermaid in water and absolutely smashed it. 

And in a production with bubbles, pyrotechnics, moving set pieces, confetti cannons and an endless number of busy dance numbers with an endless number of costume changes, there's a lot that can go wrong, so the fact that things went about seamlessly is a credit to all of the people involved. 

Seriously, I worked at the Bristol Hippodrome for years and some of the professional productions put on there were not as slick and well put together as this one. 

I was also lucky enough to have a unique seat in the audience directly behind the show's director, local panto legend David Ashley, and others in the production's creative team. The pride that emanated from them as the show went on was infectious and indicative of the hard work they themselves had put in. 

But it also helped to highlight a couple of other things, the Summer Youth Project is like a family, it's a safe space for a lot of these children to find themselves, to grow in confidence and if all goes to plan, head into adulthood with the tools they need to do whatever it is they want - even if it isn't onstage. 

Many of the cast, including a lot of the the principals had been part of that family for a number of years, and the memories they will have from their time on stage in front of hundreds of people will stay with them forever.

And that is why we as a town and county are extremely lucky to have something like this here, run by people who deeply care about the children involved and also about putting on a show that they all can be proud of. 

For this reason, the Summer Youth Project, and the Wyvern Foundation, which provide bursaries to select participants to help them gain further experience in the industry such as the Little Mermaid herself who had used hers to produce her own show at the Arts Centre, are brilliant organisations. 

It is, I would suggest, a wondrous thing that something like an amateur stage production can set so many young people up for the rest of their lives, while also proving to be entertaining for us audience members and so I can only urge anyone who can to go and support them. 

Not only would you be helping an incredible thing, but if you go and watch one you will be entertained by a fabulous show that has no right to be as good as it is, given the amount of time everyone had to put it together. 

To buy a ticket for the last two performances on Saturday at 2.30pm or 7.30pm visit: https://trafalgartickets.com/wyvern-theatre-swindon/en-GB/event/other/the-little-mermaid-tickets

To learn more about the Summer Youth Project visit here: https://trafalgartickets.com/wyvern-theatre-swindon/en-GB/summer-youth-project

To learn more about the Wyvern Foundation visit here: https://wyvernfoundation.org.uk/