East40, a band made up of 46 young people aged three to 17 from nine schools in Glasgow, released the single last month, which aims to raise money for UNICEF projects in Scotland and around the world.

Virgin Trains has agreed to transport the band to London for a special performance of the single at St James's Palace on Tuesday (June 24) before the youngsters and their teachers visit Downing Street and the House of Commons the following day.

"We're delighted to support this project, which has been inspirational for children across Glasgow and beyond," said Gary Iddon, Virgin Trains' general manager for Anglo-Scottish services.

"We'll be doing everything we can to ensure they have a great journey and hope they make a big impact when performing in London."

The East40 band performed their UNICEF charity single at Glasgow's Central Station today ©Twitter



The East40 band is made up of pupils from St Anne's Primary School and nine other schools in the St Mungo's Learning Community in Glasgow's east end.

Pupils and teachers have been working on a special song for UNICEF over the last couple of months to coincide with Glasgow's hosting of the Commonwealth Games.

The special project has been helped with input from some star names including Freddie Cowan of The Vaccines, Paul Thomson from Franz Ferdinand and Scott Hutchison from Frightened Rabbit, who helped to compose the song along with local songwriter Jonathan Carr.

The East40 band performed their single at Glasgow's Central Station today before they board the train for London next week.

Freddie Cowan has swapped The Vaccines for East40 to help launch the Let the Games Begin charity single ©Twitter



"The young people have been on an incredible journey with the East40 project and now they have been invited to sing at St James's Palace - it's just amazing," said Councillor Stephen Curran, executive member for education and young people at Glasgow City Council.

"Thank you to Virgin Trains for their very generous support and transporting the band to their top gig."

Every download of the song, which is available on iTunes, raises 76p for UNICEF projects in Scotland and around the world.

To download the East40 UNICEF single Let the Games Begin, click here, while a video of the single can be viewed here.

The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games are due take place from July 23 to August 3.

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