A group of prisoners from High Down Prison in Banstead and a group of young disabled adults learned a lot about each other in a week of making music at the Orpheus Centre for performing arts in Godstone last month.

With generous funding from the Michael Varah Memorial Fund, the project helped bridge gaps between two groups with very different backgrounds.

The project involved five Orpheus Centre students helping seven prisoners to develop the skills required for writing and creating their own songs and music. Prisoners were guided and encouraged in their musical expression by Orpheus Centre founder, Richard Stilgoe, song writer Birgitta Kenyon and rap artist Emmanuel Imuere.

When asked how the experience would benefit him in the future, one prisoner answered: "This will help open my arms to the world and treat everyone with due respect...I will walk away from this a better man."

The project ended with a concert at the prison where the prisoners received a CD of their work as a reminder of what they had achieved.

For more information on the Orpheus Centre visit www.orpheus.org.uk or call 01883 744664.