The story
It started with a school dinner.
Twenty-four years, thirty-nine projects, hundreds of bands — and every one of them began the same way: a group of kids, a room full of instruments, and four days to make something out of nothing.
Bandit started small — a spark in a school lunchroom in 2002. Kevin Howlett traded a free school dinner for the chance to run a ragtag songwriting club at Maidenhill School. A handful of kids, a few guitars, and a dream to make noise.
Then the idea grew: go bigger, louder, wilder. Dartington Plus rolled in with amps and tape machines, and the thing got its name — BandiT. What began as two days of writing and recording turned into something else entirely. Why just record a song when you can throw the kids on stage, lights in their eyes, guitars screaming at the Subscription Rooms?
From that first gig the momentum was unstoppable. Professional musicians, teachers and local legends joined in, turning a school project into a living, breathing workshop of chaos and creativity.
Two decades later, Bandit is a rite of passage. Fifty to seventy young people aged 8 to 17 gather three times a year for four long, wild days — writing songs, building riffs, wrangling microphones, setting lights, managing stages, and finally burning it all down with a full-blown gig. The Green Room hums with interviews, guest speakers drop truths about the industry, and cameras roll to capture every spark.
Bandit isn't just a workshop. It's a community, a tribe, a highway that keeps rolling. It's not polite. It's not quiet. It's music as it should be: messy, alive, necessary.
Watch
What is Bandit?
Three minutes that explain it better than any words can.
What is Bandit
The project in the kids' own words
Along the way
Twenty-four years in five beats
2002
The lunchroom deal
A free school dinner buys a songwriting club at Maidenhill School. A handful of kids and a few guitars start making noise.
2003
BandiT gets its name
Dartington Plus arrives with amps and tape machines. Two days of writing and recording becomes a real project with a real name.
The first gig
The Subscription Rooms
Recording a song isn't enough — the kids take the stage with lights in their eyes. The final-night gig becomes the heart of every Bandit since.
2016
Woodchester Mansion & beyond
Bandit goes on location — gigs in a Gothic mansion, live streams, film crews, two-stage shows and a growing family of tutors, techs and returning old-hands.
Today
Bandit 40 and counting
Three projects a year, generations of musicians — some who came as eight-year-olds now return as tutors. The highway keeps rolling.
What the kids take home
More than a song
The aim is simple: develop young musicians and give them a lasting experience in a fun, supportive, creative environment. Here's what four days actually builds.
Music & creative skills
- Songwriting & lyric writing
- Chord structures & melodies
- Building riffs & harmonies
- Stage presence
- Soundchecking & live sound
Life skills
- Teamwork & communication
- Brainstorming & creative problem-solving
- Confidence — on stage and off
- Supporting other performers
- Seeing an idea through to a finished thing
The wider world
- Guest speakers from the creative industries
- Green Room interviews on camera
- Working with professional musicians & techs
- Work experience for older students
- Bands that outlive the project — many keep gigging
Guest speakers
Real people, real careers, real talk
On the Monday and Tuesday of each project we invite guests from across the creative and professional industries to share their career journeys with the students — musicians, engineers, filmmakers, artists and more.
These sessions are designed to inspire, educate, and show young people just how many pathways exist within the arts and beyond. It's often the first time a young musician hears, from someone doing it, that a life in music is actually possible.