WHEN Oxford author Mark Haddon published his bestselling novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, he had been writing children's fiction for 16 years.

Now he has promised to sit through a charity concert in which 80 musicians from Oxford have only been learning to play their instruments for two months.

Mr Haddon will be just one of the honoured special guests, alongside renowned conductors and composers, smuggling ear plugs into Oxford Town Hall for the Oxford Cambridge Note Race on Sunday night.

The bizarre Oxford v Cambridge competition has been organised by, and to raise money for, parents' support charity Home Start Oxford.

Tomorrow night, 80 Oxford musicians will attempt to perform a five-movement suite composed specially for the occasion by Simon Brown, director of Chapel Music at Robinson College, Cambridge.

At the same time, 120 musicians from Cambridge will be doing the same thing as a parallel concert.

If the audience doesn't leave during the first piece, the learners will then attempt to muddle their way through several more pieces by Edward Elgar, Vittorio Monti and Cole Porter.

Mr Haddon has the honour of presenting them with their prizes at the end of the night.

Alison Scott, chairwoman of trustees at Home Start Oxford, admitted that even though organising the note race had been 'one of the steepest learning curves that could have been imagined', she was looking forward to the final concert.

She added: "When the note race was launched at the end of April I was really impressed by the enthusiasm of the 30 or so people who came along to support and share in the start of this amazing project.

"There are now more than 80 musicians from Oxford who have taken up the challenge and have been learning a new instrument over the past nine weeks.

"We have been exceptionally fortunate in the people who are also contributing to the programme – and great thanks go to them for their support."

Home Start, which has a base at Blackbird Leys Community Centre, recruits volunteers to help parents who have difficult home lives.

Clients include people with mental health problems, postnatal illness, disabilities, the bereaved and people recovering from domestic abuse.

The learner musicians from Oxford and Cambridge have already raised more than £70,000 in sponsorship for the charity.

Ms Scott added: "In some ways, perhaps there is an analogy between the challenge of being a parent and that of learning a musical instrument – one does not know quite what is involved, it can be a real struggle, takes time and patience, but it can also bring great enjoyment and pleasure."

The concert at Oxford Town Hall starts at 7pm but doors will open at 6pm.

Tickets are available from wegottickets.com or on the door for £5 each.

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