Children hear of Hollywood career with its roots at their own school

The celebrated composer has created the music for a host of major movies including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Brave, Thor and Bridget Jones' Diary, but he still found time to visit St John the Baptist Primary, in Uddingston, where he had first discovered his love for music and performing.

Patrick chatted to children and staff before regaling the assembled pupils with the stories behind him developing his passion for music as a young boy at that very school and finding his way into working as a film composer.

Additional entertainment was provided by another former pupil, Grant Cassidy, who became Juvenile Solo World Drumming Champion eight years in a row and is now a professional drummer playing with acts such as the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Ed Sheerin, Calum Beattie and Skerrymore.

Considered to be one of the world's top pipe-band snare drummers, Grant enthralled the pupils with a display of drumming that brought together breathtaking skill and infectious entertainment.

The school's Primary 1 children were among the pupils who performed for Patrick, and they paid tribute to his first-ever time on a stage (as a small boy at St John the Baptist PS) when they reprised his debut performance of Little Drummer Boy.

It brought back memories for Patrick, who said: "I remember standing on the stage, the curtain opening and seeing all the people in the audience looking at me. And I thought, 'I like this!'"

He recalled sneaking into an empty hall to find out what it was like to try playing a piano and told of the love of music that drove him to be part of the brass band, orchestra and choir at school and go on to study at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Patrick told the pupils of his initial work as an actor, but said that it was when he joined Kenneth Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company as composer and musical director that he established a life-changing friendship with the renowned actor.

He said: "When I heard that Sir Kenneth was making his first film, Henry V, I asked if I could have the opportunity to propose a score for it. He agreed, but I had never done that before and I had to teach myself. I had done some music for animations, where the music is written first and the animation is made to match it, so I tried to think how to reverse that process because, of course, it is the other way round for a film."

"It must have worked, though, because my score for that wonderful film was what launched my film career!"

He has gone on to compose the score for more than 60 feature films including Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Cinderella, Carlito's Way, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Calendar Girls and Nanny McPhee, as well as 15 of the 20 films directed by Kenneth Branagh, and has been nominated for two Academy Awards (for Sense and Sensibility, and Hamlet), two Golden Globe Awards (Dead Again, and Sense and Sensibility), one BAFTA (Sense and Sensibility) and two Caesars, France's national film award (Indochine and Est-Ouest).

Among the ten awards he has won for specific film scores was the Ivor Novello Award for Best Film Theme for Henry V, and he has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from both The World Soundtrack Awards and Scottish BAFTA, the PRS Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Music and the ASCAP Henry Mancini Award for outstanding achievements and contributions to the world of film and television music.

Patrick told the St John the Baptist pupils: "If you had told me that I was going to have as amazing a life as that when I was that wee boy on your school's stage, or when I was getting shouted at by an angry janny for having a go on the piano, I would never have believed it.

"But it has happened, so the message I want to give to you is this: if there is something you really love to do the most, go for it. Don't give up, and give it everything you've got, because you never know until you try and, if you achieve it, it is the most wonderful thing in the world."

Head teacher Catherine Currie was delighted that the pupils had been able to hear such inspirational stories.

She said: "We were enormously grateful to Patrick and Grant for giving up their time to visit us. Hearing from someone who has achieved so much is inspirational in itself, but when it is someone who was just like you and started life at the very same school as you are at just now, it becomes acutely meaningful to the children.

"Patrick was so fascinating and entertaining, but it was his message that he left us with that I loved the most. If it gives even just one child the confidence to aspire to what they would really love to do - and I am sure it will have touched far more than one - then the visit will have been worth it for that alone."