A UK-first £1 million music therapy project is being rolled out to provide a “lifeline” for people with dementia in our region.
Thanks to generous funding from a number of regional and national sources, Greater Manchester is to become the first ‘Centre of Excellence for Music and Dementia’ in the UK, and it’ll be hosted by Manchester Camerata with support from the University of Manchester (UoM) and the Alzheimer’s Society.
More than £1 million of funding has been committed by Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, Sir Richard Lees, who is now the Chair of the NHS Greater Manchester, and the National Academy for Social Prescribing’s ‘Power of Music Fund’.
Due to be rolled-out from October 2024, the funding will support three years of direct musical support activities across all of the region’s 10 boroughs.
For the three-year project, Manchester Camerata will work in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Society and UoM to offer “research-backed” music cafes, for both its ‘Music in Mind’ programme and the Alzheimer’s Society’s ‘Singing for the Brain’ scheme.
It’s hoped this will “help take pressure off frontline health and care staff” in the NHS.
Manchester Camerata’s internationally-renowned ‘Music in Mind’ programme – created in collaboration with UoM – uses the principles of music therapy to improve the wellbeing of people living with dementia, and was devised from the foundations of some of the world’s leading dementia experts and their research.
The Alzheimer’s Society’s ‘Singing for the Brain’ programme is based on key music therapy principles, and has already been massively successful in bringing people living with dementia together to sing a variety of songs they know and love in a fun and friendly environment – with sessions also including vocal exercises that help improve brain activity and wellbeing.
The UK’s first music therapy project for dementia patients is being rolled out across Greater Manchester / Credit: Manchester Camerata
The sessions also create an opportunity for people living with dementia and their carers to socialise with others, and experience peer support too.
Manchester Camerata and the Alzheimer’s Society will recruit a workforce of 300 volunteers over the next three years and train them to deliver the ‘Music Cafes’, which will help support thousands of people living with dementia in Greater Manchester.
In addition to the Centre of Excellence in Greater Manchester, the National Academy for Social Prescribing’s ‘Power of Music Fund’ is also awarding small grants to 70 grassroots music and dementia projects across the UK, and this will support more than 5,500 people in total.
We are genuinely delighted by this news.👇🏻
We are proud of all our partners, particularly @MancCamerata, who helped bring it about.
We are a music city-region and will now work to unlock its full power for the benefit of our residents with dementia. 🙏🏻 https://t.co/1Xoeyf4ykN
Mayor Andy Burnham called said the project is “fantastic news for Greater Manchester”, and called it a “reminder of the power of music to shape our lives and our communities”.
He continued: “Manchester Camerata have played a key role in our Music Commission, and I’ve seen first-hand the transformational impact of what they do in our city region, so they are the ideal partner to pioneer the UK’s first Centre of Excellence for Music and Dementia and work with the Alzheimer’s Society to unlock the potential of music as therapy.
“This project will provide life-changing support to people with dementia and their carers in our 10 boroughs.
“It will also generate groundbreaking research that will influence health and care policy across the country while directly improving lives across Greater Manchester”.
Featured Image – Manchester Camerata
News
‘Dazzling’ Victorian silver sculpture goes on public display in Greater Manchester after fears it was lost
Emily Sergeant
A long-lost masterpiece of Victorian silverwork has been saved and is now on display to the public in Greater Manchester.
Anyone taking a trip over to the National Trust’s historic Dunham Massey property, on the border of Greater Manchester into Cheshire, this summer will get to see the ‘dazzling’ sculpture called Stags in Bradgate Park – which was commissioned by a former owner in a defiant gesture to the society that shunned him.
The dramatic sculpture of two rutting Red Deer stags, commissioned in 1855 by George Harry Grey, 7th Earl of Stamford, was said to be an ‘act of love and rebellion’.
It also serves as a symbol of ‘locking horns’ with the society that ostracised him over his marriage to a woman considered ‘beneath him’.
“This isn’t just silver – it’s a story,” says James Rothwell, who is the National Trust‘s curator for decorative arts.
“A story of a man who fell in love with a woman that society deemed unworthy. When the Earl married Catherine Cox, whose colourful past was said to have included performing in a circus, Victorian high society was scandalised. Even Queen Victoria shunned the couple at the opera and local gentry at the horse races in Cheshire turned their backs on them.”
Modelled by Alfred Brown and crafted by royal goldsmiths Hunt & Roskell, Stags in Bradgate Park is a meticulously-detailed depiction of nature, and was considered a ‘sensation’ in its day.
Showing the rutting deer positioned on a rocky outcrop with gnarled hollow oaks, it graced the pages of the Illustrated London News, was exhibited at the London International Exhibition of 1862, and at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867 – both of which were events that drew millions of visitors.
A ‘dazzling’ Victorian silver sculpture has gone on public display in Greater Manchester / Credit: Joe Wainwright | James Dobson (via Supplied)
The silver centrepiece was the celebrity art of its time, paraded through streets and admired by the public like no other.
Gradually over the years, some of the Earl of Stamford’s silver collection has been re-acquired for Dunham Massey, and this particular world-renowned sculpture, thought to be lost for decades and feared to have been melted down, has miraculously survived with its ‘dramatic’ central component being all that is left.
“The sculpture is not only a technical marvel, with its lifelike depiction of Bradgate Park’s rugged landscape and wildlife, but also a dramatic human story key to the history of Dunham Massey,” added Emma Campagnaro, who is the Property Curator at Dunham Massey.
“It speaks of nature, of craftsmanship, and of a couple who chose each other over status and what others thought of them.”
The sculpture has now gone on display at Dunham Massey from Thursday 26 June.
Featured Image – James Dobson (via Supplied)
News
Lewis Capaldi announces MASSIVE comeback gig in Manchester this year
Thomas Melia
Everyone’s favourite Scottish ballad-maker, Lewis Capaldi, is heading out on tour across the UK, including a massive Manchester date.
Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi is ready to tug at our heartstrings again right in front of our eyes as he announces a new UK arena tour.
This huge announcement comes right after his surprise set at the UK’s biggest music event of the year, Glastonbury, where he made a heroic return to the Pyramid Stage just two years after being forced to pull out.
Capaldi is known for writing some of the most notable and emotive hits of the late 2010s and early 2020s, including a long list of anthems such as ‘Someone You Loved’, ‘Bruises’ and ‘Before You Go’.
His monster of a hit ‘Someone You Loved’ has surpassed 3.9 billion views and is the UK’s most-streamed song of all time, so it is safe to say that his presence has been well and truly missed.
To many fans’ delight, the singer has stepped back into the spotlight and is ready to sing his heart out live at a variety of arenas across the UK, including Co-op Live right here in Manchester.
Now, in a post on his official Instagram account announcing this upcoming UK and Ireland arena tour, it’s good to see the Scottish powerhouse hasn’t lost his wit and charm as he jokes, “About time I got back to work.”
These shows are set to be in high demand as the singer has also revealed these upcoming dates, “Will be my only shows in the UK, Ireland or Europe this year! Would love to see ya there.”
On the back of his glorious Glasto return, Capaldi has dropped a huge heart-wrencher titled ‘Survive’ which offers more insight into the struggles and challenges the singer has been facing.
There is no confirmation of whether this new single marks the launch of a bigger project or not, but we can’t wait to scream his hits at the top of our lungs, regardless of when he pays Manchester a visit later this year.
Emily Sergeant -
9th May 2024 
