Bristol Music Trust – Creating unity and joy, one note at a time
In a community hall in Easton, a group of music lovers gather each week to sing, play percussion and move to the rhythm. While most attend independently, some arrive with walking aids and others with carers. For many, this is more than just a chance to play music, it is a lifeline.
At the heart of this activity is the Bristol Music Trust (BMT), the music charity, venue and education hub that strives to create unity and joy through live music. With the help of a £5,000 grant, the trust is doing just that for older people living in some of Bristol’s most disadvantaged areas.
BMT applied for funding from the Cote Charity, managed by SMV, to support the delivery of its Older People’s Programme: regular community-based music-making sessions, movement workshops and large-scale concerts designed to combat loneliness, improve wellbeing and support people to live independently.
Through culturally responsive initiatives and strong referral partnerships with local health and community organisations, the programme reaches those facing the greatest barriers, addressing the lack of creative opportunities for older people.
“Rhythm, harmony, community and joy”
Our Music Club runs weekly sessions at Easton Community Centre and the Inns Court Community & Family Centre in Knowle West, bringing together older people living with dementia to make music collectively.
Bristol is home to an estimated 5,000 people living with dementia: a number that is expected to rise sharply over the coming decades.
Referrals to Our Music Club are made via Bristol Dementia Wellbeing Service, Age UK, Singing for the Brain and Alzheimer’s UK. Each session is facilitated by a music leader and four professional musicians, and participants listen to and play music, with the aim of improving their quality of life through the alleviation of their symptoms.
Attendance in the Easton group has grown steadily since the group launched in 2024 and now welcomes around 15 participants each week, of which around half are from global majority communities. This is notable, as research shows that such communities in Bristol are disproportionately affected by dementia and less likely to access mainstream services.
The Inns Court club sees a dozen people on average attend sessions, which take place in a lively and supportive community setting that also hosts a café, foodbank and other social groups. The relocation of this group from Filwood Community Centre initially presented challenges. However, with the introduction of Sprint – a door-to-door community transport service in the Knowle area – and continued engagement with carers and supporters, attendance has stabilised.
In 2025, Our Music Club delivered 62 workshops, equating to 92 hours of activity. Feedback from attendees states that the sessions improve their wellbeing and help to decrease their anxiety levels. Despite living with a debilitating condition, within the sessions the participants verbalise, move more freely, make friends and even perform solos, highlighting the resilience of older people and the importance of music in helping them feel, and live, better.
Each attendee’s feedback reflects a deeply personal impact of attending these sessions.
J, 82, was one of the first to join the Easton group. After a prolonged period of illness and absence, he returned, now using a full walker. Despite managing chronic pain, he has re-engaged fully: he suggests songs, plays percussion and visibly comes alive in the sessions.
His wife explained the difference the group makes: “J has been so unwell and in so much pain, but he comes home [from these sessions] much happier. This group is so needed.”
From community halls to world-class venues
Pulse is a weekly music and movement group run in collaboration with Southmead Development Trust, conceived as a tool for social prescribing (non-pharmacological treatment) to improve mental and physical health.
Held at the Bristol Music Centre in Southmead, Pulse sessions begin as a coffee morning before focussing on making music, or just listening; participants sing, play instruments, move their bodies to the music and relax. Most participants are referred by GPs, with the Brain Rehabilitation Centre referring those who need a personal assistant.
An average of 12 participants attend each session, and in feedback received from participants, across the board they report that the groups improve their wellbeing, social connection, communication and relationship skills, while the majority of them say the sessions enhance their sense of fun, joy and play.
In 2025, funding helped BMT to run 30 workshops led by guest artists, in which participants explored various themes, such as ‘Cycles and Changing Directions’ and ‘Transformations in Nature’. This last theme culminated in seven members – the oldest aged 73 – taking to the stage for a public performance of an original composition at the Community Summer Showcase at Bridgehouse, the foyer stage of the Bristol Beacon.
Away from the Bristol Music Centre, the group has developed its own peer support network, organising social gatherings and maintaining contact. Several participants have subsequently transitioned into volunteering, joined the Trust’s intergenerational community band, or begun exploring further creative sessions designed to support mental and physical health, and even pursued careers in creative health.
Outstanding music strikes a chord
The grant was also used to support the programme’s dementia-friendly Care Home Concert in 2025.
More than 200 residents from 17 care homes across Bristol were welcomed to Beacon Hall for an interactive and uplifting concert performed by Sinfonia Smith Square Orchestra, a London-based collective of promising orchestral musicians.
It was the first time the event could accommodate 40 wheelchair users, significantly expanding its accessibility, and the performance was broadcast via BHBS, Bristol’s Hospital Radio, in order to reach listeners who were unable to attend in person.
For BMT, large scale live music events like this are central to its outreach work. As the city’s population ages amid persistent health inequalities, the organisation sees music not merely as entertainment but as intervention: a way to prevent isolation, build confidence and strengthen communities.
In sessions across the city, BMT’s work can lead to small, quiet transformations taking place every time people come together to explore how music makes them feel.
The evidence is clear how the opportunity to experience and participate in music can change lives, one note at a time.
Case Study – R, Our Music Club
R attends Our Music Club at Inns Court. She is often anxious and is post-verbal, which means she cannot communicate in conversation but can make sounds and say some words.
At Our Music Club R can show up as she is and be herself.
“When she’s ‘in the music’, she can be vocal,” says Giulia Bianccini, the programme’s Creative Producer. “On one occasion she was conducting the group, and the change – from her head being down, to dancing around the room – feels so special.”
Moments like this, where the individual is present and can connect with the energy of the music in the room are a potent reminder of just how powerful music therapy can be.
