One of many highlights on the BGS calendar, The Bedfordshire Festival of Music, Speech & Drama showcases talent in the amateur performing arts in Bedfordshire and the surrounding area.
This year, it will not only be our talented students taking centre stage, but also staff who will entering the Bedfordshire Festival Class 150, which involves performing a Grade 1 standard piece on an instrument the candidate has never played before September 2019 (or – unofficially – in the case of the Music department, March 2020).
The performers are raising funds Tibbs Dementia Foundation (TDF), a Bedford based charity who offer a wide range of activities, which provide cognitive and physical stimulation, both for people in all stages of dementia and for those who support them. One of these groups is called Music for Memory, where people with dementia and their carers can sing, dance and laugh, with the added benefit of music aiding memory and communication.
This charity was selected due to strong connections between concert pianist and VMT piano teacher, Mrs Banning, who lost her husband to early onset dementia in 2012. Mrs Banning said: “During this incredibly difficult time, Music for Memory was an invaluable source of support for us. Like most people with dementia, even as he began to lose the ability to communicate in other ways, Raymond could still communicate through music because the part of the brain, which stores our musical memories and processes music is often unaffected by dementia.”
If you would like to sponsor, click here. Feel free to come and support the performers at 6pm on Wednesday 12th March in the Harpur Suite, Corn Exchange.
