Arts Council England, the national development agency for the arts in England, recently praised the Orchestra of St John's new project for people with dementia.  

Writing about the project, ACE's South East Arts Officer, Alistair Will said: 'We know that the arts play a part in almost everyone's wellbeing and overall health. The shared act of listening and responding to music allows us to express what is unique within us and also to feel connected with others through our humanity and common experience. People with health conditions can find it hard to participate in the arts, so at the Arts Council we are delighted to be supporting this excellent concert series, which addresses that difficulty by providing unique benefits to people with dementia and the people who care from them.''

Alexandra Loewe, OSJ's Projects Manager explains, "The audiences of Moving Music concerts are made up of care workers bringing day centre visitors as well as individual carers. Everyone feels at ease and they light up when they hear the funny stories John Elliott [tuba] comes up with or the amazing virtuosic passages Ian [Scott] demonstrates on the clarinet. We encore what the audience sing loudest and as the hour progresses couples have shared a very special moment of connection, care workers have sung along with people who normally don't say a word and the musicians smile from ear to ear as their playing receives full hearted appreciation. A mum brought her four adopted children who suffer from Down's syndrome to one concert. When the music began, her eldest son stood up in front of the whole audience and danced uninhibitedly in perfect time to the music."

There are plans for four more concerts in the series.  For more information contact alexandra@osj.org.uk or call 07725 721245