Mid Suffolk’s community spirit inspires ‘Musical Memories’
The ‘Musical Memories’ programme is run by musicians from Britten Sinfonia. Since December, the musicians have been holding workshops with older residents and people living with long-term health conditions, such as dementia and Parkinson’s, across the district.
Each workshop was designed to tackle isolation, particularly in rural parts of the district, and bring people together through the joy of live music and sharing musical memories.
Sessions were held in Debenham, Thurston, Stowmarket, Eye and Barking, and include care settings as well as community groups and buildings. Here, musicians performed a range of popular tunes and even co-created a new piece of music with the help of workshop leader Raphael Clarkson and the residents attending.
On Monday, 18 March, hundreds of people who took part in the workshops gathered at the John Peel Centre for a culmination event, celebrating the end of the project and all the new relationships which had been made during the workshops.
Britten Sinfonia then performed the new, co-created piece of music, ‘Community Spirit’ and entertained the audience with a number of well-known hits.
Cllr Andy Mellen, leader of Mid Suffolk District Council, said:
Coming together at the John Peel Centre was the perfect way to sign off on this programme and I couldn’t be happier to see so many people turn up and share in this truly special moment.”
Stuart Bruce, senior creative producer at Orchestras Live, said:
Britten Sinfonia and Raph Clarkson have brought some really special creative experiences to the groups involved, supporting their health and wellbeing, and we will be looking to build on this work over the coming months.”
