The Keynsham Music Festival

The Keynsham Music Festival took place in glorious sunshine over the weekend from Friday 3^rd to Sunday 5^th. For the 4^th year we were asked by Mike May, the festival chairman, to run a Music for the Mind session in the Big Top in Keynsham Park on the Friday morning,

We agreed and it turned out to be our best ever and there was an excellent turnout of our dementia friends and their carers. Two of our local care homes, St Phillips and St James and Meryton Place care home were well represented.

Overall the session ran from 10.00 until 12.30. As people were arriving they were entertained by the Bath U3A Swing Band for 50 minutes. They were followed by 3 separate circus acts, a man blowing huge bubbles, followed by a juggler and finally a couple of acrobats.

Then Lindy took over for the final 45 minutes with a brief warm-up followed by a sing song that included some of the group’s favourite songs.

A big thank you to Mike May and his team of helpers for all the preparation, setting up the big tent, sound system and lighting and putting out the tables and chairs. Thanks also to our volunteers for serving out the hot and cold drinks and tidying up afterwards. Thanks also to Lindy for leading the singing and June for providing the backing. And finally thanks to all our dementia friends for supporting us on the day and made it such a joyous occasion.

Keynsham Town Council’s Grant Presentation Evening for 2026

Our treasurer represented our group at the presentation evening on Thursday 9^th July in the Space in Keynsham Civic Centre. We applied for a grant of £810 to go towards the cost of running our Music for the Mind sessions. Our application was successful and the attached photograph shows Mike Knight picking up the award. There were about 40 local charities present to pick up a cheque and each representative had a maximum of 2 minutes to give details of what their charity’s aims were and how their grant would be used.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Keynsham Town Council on behalf of all our dementia friends and their carers, not just for this cheque, but for all the support they have given us since we formed the charity in 2017. It was a real tonic to listen about all the various charitable organisations that we have in our area. A huge thanks to Keynsham Town Council for bringing us all together.