Lucy Akehurst studied viola with Bernard Shore and organ with Harold Darke at The Royal College of Music and after playing viola professionally for some years, she became interested in Violin teaching, which she has been doing for over 50 years, In 1995, she started the Young Strings Project at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Junior Department, which is the only young strings project based on the Suzuki method in the country. Her many successes as a teacher include the leaders of two major orchestras and she has former-pupils in Japan, Luxembourg, Austria and France as well as many freelance players in London and Manchester.