COMPOSER and musician John Surman is delighted that his childhood memories of Dorset’s spectacular countryside have touched local residents preparing to celebrate the home Games.

Mr Surman is among four composers commissioned to create 20-minutes-worth of music as part of the Coastal Voices mass choir project.

Rehearsals are taking place at four hub locations along the south coast – with Mr Surman’s work Songs for a Coastal Wind being the focus for the Weymouth-based choir, rehearsing at Holy Trinity Church.

The groups will come together on Weymouth Beach on Friday, July 27, for a performance to celebrate the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

World-renowned jazz saxophonist Mr Surman, 67, who now lives in Norway, was moved to read in the Dorset Echo that local singer Debbie Peach and the Weymouth group were enjoying their rehearsals of his songs, led by conductor Howard Moody.

He said: “Sometimes, when we write music, we don’t imagine some of the ways in which the music will touch people and perhaps brighten their lives in some way.

“It was really nice, feeling it had some impact.”

He added: “I’m from Plymouth originally but my great grandparents lived in Norwich Road, Rodwell and I spent nearly all my summers and Easter holidays down there as a kid until the end of the 1950s.

“I learned to swim off the Nothe and had a fantastic time – we were always going to Sandsfoot Castle.

“I once won a talent contest at Alexandra Theatre on Weymouth Pier in 1955 for singing ‘O for the wings of a dove’ and I remember going to Portland and finding ammonites.”

Mr Surman’s four songs were inspired by a Thomas Hardy poem that refers to cycling down Ridgeway Hill, the Jurassic Coast and how the layers and layers of rock developed over time, bringing the wind to Weymouth and Portland for the sailing and a final song to send it to Brazil for the next Olympic Games.

Mr Surman said: “It took me a couple of months to actually write the songs, after a lot of thought.

“I really enjoyed doing it as I could picture where the sailing events are going to take place. I’m happy because I’ve had good feedback.

“Howard Moody is a good friend of mine and he said it’s going really well – he held his phone up during a rehearsal in Weymouth so I could hear it in Norway, which was fun.

“I’m looking forward to watching the performance on television, I hope it’s good weather, it will certainly be a proud moment.”

He added: “It’s a great honour to be able to be able to write these songs and I’m really delighted the folks in the choir are enjoying singing them.

“That’s the best reward and I’d like to send them all my best wishes.”

• COASTAL Voices is a London 2012 mass choral project bringing hundreds of voices together for performances across Dorset and Devon.

Led by musical director Howard Moody, singers of all abilities and ages will be performing four new arrangements by Australian musician Nick Cave, world-renowned jazz saxophonist and composer John Surman, composer John K Miles together with Dorset alternative rock musician Billy Bragg, and artist Mark Yeats.

Produced by the Lighthouse, Poole, rehearsals for each of the four commissions are taking place at the hub locations of Poole, Weymouth, Lyme Regis and East Devon.

All the groups will come together for the big event on Weymouth Beach to mark the opening ceremony.

Maritime Mix, the Cultural Olympiad by the Sea involves more than 80 events in Weymouth and Portland, of which 95 per cent are free to members of the public.

Find out more at maritimemix2012.co.uk