Young people will band together at a musical launch event tomorrow at the start of anti-bullying week.

They will perform at a Bands Against Bullying show at Open in Bank Plain, Norwich to kick-start a programme of bully-beating events at schools across Norfolk.

This year's theme is 'taking action together', and is aimed at highlighting the role that bystanders can take.

Norfolk County Council is working with schools and young people's organisations to support a range of events and workshops throughout the week to help raise awareness of bullying.

The week will kick off with the Bands Against Bullying event from 2pm to 6pm, featuring performances from 10 bands and performers including Frost D, Soldier A, Kieren Harper and Set the Scene. Each band or performer will include a song with an anti-bullying message.

The event is being sponsored by Changing Faces, a charity that supports people with facial disfigurement. Norfolk member David Bird raised �1,650 to support anti-bullying work in the county, following his own experiences as a child.

Mr Bird said: 'Changing Faces is about changing people's attitudes towards any form of disfigurement of any kind. Each of us has unique features and no one person has the right to bully or torment someone because of the way they look. We all need to work together in making bullying a thing of the past.'

The bystander theme of the week aims to encourage those who think or know bullying is taking place to get help and report it.

Rita Adair, the council's senior educational psychologist and regional adviser for the Anti-Bullying Alliance, said: 'This week we will be giving children and young people strategies to enable them to know what to do when they witness bullying.'

Throughout the week, schools and young people's organisations will be holding a series of activities and events, including a performing arts celebration organised by City College Norwich at the college from 10am to 12.30pm.