A competition to find a new Cornish lullaby has been launched by St Piran’s Festival Redruth and the Cornwall Music Therapy Trust.

Winning entries are to be broadcast on local radio on St Piran’s Day, (March 5) and will receive a live world premiere performance at the St Piran’s Day Festival in Redruth on Saturday, March 7.

The St Piran’s Festival Redruth supports local Cornish charities and this year has the Cornwall Music Therapy Trust as its nominated charity.

Music therapists in Cornwall, whose work is supported by Cornwall Music Therapy Trust, currently work with children and adults with a range of physical and emotional difficulties. They are also working increasingly with mothers who are experiencing attachment difficulties with their children.

When music therapist Robin Bates asked a group of Cornish mothers which Cornish songs their mothers sang to them, top of the list was ‘The White Rose’, with ‘Lamorna’ a close second. The mothers said that when sung slowly in lullaby fashion, these songs soon sent them sleepy-byes.

Research has established that music therapy in the form of gentle lullabies not only slows down the heart rate of prematurely born babies but also helps them feed and sleep better. This helps them gain weight and speeds their recovery.

Chairman of St Piran’s Festival Redruth, Mike Chappell, said ‘I was delighted with the idea of the competition to compose a St Piran’s Lullaby – it allows us to celebrate three things close to all our hearts in Cornwall, St Piran, music and children.

"We hope that schools and colleges can use the competition as a means of combining history, music and creative writing and of raising awareness of St Piran and the immense pride that the people of Cornwall have in their county."

The story of St Piran has the ideal elements for a lullaby. The legend goes that the saint was tied to a mill-stone and rolled over the edge of a cliff in Ireland into a stormy sea. The waters immediately became calm, and the saint floated safely over the water to land upon the sandy beach of Perranzanbuloe in Cornwall. His first disciples were said to be a badger, a fox and a bear."

The competition is open to two categories: children up to the age of 11, resident in Cornwall and young people aged from 11-18, resident in Cornwall.

The deadline for entries is January 16, 2015 and full details and entry forms can be downloaded from the Cornwall Music Therapy Trust website at http://www.cornwallmusictherapy.org.uk.