Budding young musicians struggling to pay for public address systems are to benefit from a pool of equipment and cash help with rehearsals.

It is one of 11 projects to share a windfall £50,000 pot of money from City of York Council to help young people in the city.

The grants were announced during a children's conference in the city - at which one of the events was a graffiti workshop where an artist taught 50 children how to create colourful murals.

The £5,000 awarded to young bands came after a flood of requests from bands asking for a PA system and somewhere to rehearse. The cash will buy an amplifier which can be borrowed by groups, and it will also cover rehearsal costs.

Meanwhile, Global Electronic, a group of young musicians, has been given £8,500 to help organise gigs and promote bands.

Other winners in the £50,000 council handout are:

£4,000 for a skate ramp at Wheldrake and £800 for one at Copmanthorpe

£10,000 for a sports shelter at Foxwood, where young people can meet friends without being moved on by police

£2,000 for camping equipment for Duke of Edinburgh Award pupils at Archbishop Holgate's School.

£2,000 for Mindstorm, a support group that helps youngsters suffering depression

£1,900 for an art project by former homeless young people living in Scarcroft Road

£1,000 for an art group at New Earswick

£1,000 for an Acomb dance group

£2,000 for a play park at Stockton-on-the-Forest.

Members of the York Shadow Youth Council decided where the £50,000 should be spent after inviting bids from groups of young people in the city.

At the council-organised children's conference, last Friday, York MP Hugh Bayley and senior councillors signed the UN Convention on Children's Rights.

Tanya Heppell, 17, a member of the youth council, said: "Article 12 of the convention says children have the right to express opinions and adults have to take their opinions seriously.

"I think the three councillors were quite surprised by the depth of some of the questions children asked them at the event."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.