It may not be a problem you have to face, but if you’ve ever struggled with dispersing a crowd of pupils at the end of the school day, this could be your solution. You blast them with songs from alpine musical The Sound of Music, as one youth club has discovered.

Hilton Community Centre in Inverness faced just this problem when, because its activities proved so popular, its youth club members refused to go home at the 10pm closing time. But instead of deploying heavy-handed bouncers or security, the centre has called upon the persuasive singing skills of Julie Andrews and the von Trapps.

It turns out that the musical hit My Favourite Things is in fact proving to be quite the opposite at the centre. And the youngsters would rather head for the hills than hear them “come alive”.

“This is a creative use of music,” says councillor John Finnie. “Classical music, musicals and, if things get really awkward, I understand nursery rhymes will be deployed.”