☀️🎸 AUGUST ROCKIN' ROUNDUP — SUMMER SPECIAL! 🎸☀️
Considering the summer holidays are meant to be a time to rest and recharge... we've somehow been busier than ever! 🤣
While schools have been closed for the summer, things certainly haven't slowed down at Music Evermore. In fact, it's been one of our busiest and most exciting summers yet!
From running our Summer Band Sessions at Wythenshawe Forum, to becoming an official charity partner at Live From Wythenshawe Park, raising nearly £1,000, taking young people behind the scenes of a major festival, launching Music Evermore FC, teaming up with legendary Manchester artist Stan Chow, securing more funding AND receiving a Best of Manchester Award nomination...
Apparently this is what we call a break!
Here's what we've been up to...
🎪🎶 LIVE FROM WYTHENSHAWE PARK — WHAT A WEEKEND!
What an amazing weekend!
We were incredibly proud to be invited along as an official charity partner for Live From Wythenshawe Park, joining thousands of music fans across two huge days of live music.
And what a weekend it turned out to be...
Together, we raised just under £1,000! ❤️
Every penny raised will help us continue giving young people in Wythenshawe opportunities to pick up instruments, learn, make music and experience what it's like to play in a band — completely free of charge.
Who knows... one day, some of those young musicians might even be headlining Wythenshawe Park themselves! 🎸🌟
A massive thank you has to go to our incredible team of volunteers, who worked tirelessly across the two days. They were on their feet all day, talking to pretty much EVERYONE who walked past, spreading the word about Music Evermore and the work we're doing with young people across Wythenshawe.
And, of course, thank you to every single person who stopped for a chat, signed our guitar, made a donation or simply told us they supported what we're doing. It genuinely means a lot.
A huge thank you also goes to Tesco Baguley, who very kindly kept our team fuelled with sweets, snacks and drinks throughout the weekend, and Ena Mill Retail, who supported us with hats, bags and hoodies.
We're incredibly lucky to have such a crew behind us. ❤️
And after spending a weekend surrounded by some of the biggest names in music, there was really only one way to finish...
WYTHENSHAWE NA NA NA! 🙌🏻🎶
🎨 STAN CHOW x MUSIC EVERMORE
August also saw a very special collaboration with one of Manchester's most recognisable artists, Stanley Chow.
Stan has created an exclusive limited-edition Music Evermore print, with each print signed and individually numbered and proceeds helping us provide more music opportunities for young people.
We were delighted to give people an early look at the print during our weekend at Wythenshawe Park.
Having an artist so synonymous with Manchester support what we're trying to build means a huge amount to us — and we're incredibly grateful to Stan for getting behind Music Evermore. ❤️
You can purchase a numbered, signed copy here:
🎪 BEHIND THE SCENES AT WYTHENSHAWE PARK!
August wasn't just about getting our young people on stage — we also had an amazing opportunity to show them everything that happens behind it!
A massive thank you to Live From Wythenshawe Park and Engine No 4 for inviting some of our young people along for an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the festival site as preparations were underway.
They got a fascinating insight into just how much work goes into putting on an event of this scale, learning about the huge range of people, skills and jobs needed to make a major live music event happen.
For us, opportunities like this are incredibly important. We want the young people we work with to see that a love of music can open doors to so many different future careers — whether that's performing on stage, sound and lighting, production, event management, stage management, technical roles or the countless other jobs happening behind the scenes.
And as if having a tour of a huge festival site wasn't exciting enough...
We also got to watch and listen to Pulp soundchecking! 🤯🎶
Not your average morning at Music Evermore!
A huge thank you again to everyone at Live From Wythenshawe Park and Engine No 4 for giving our young people an experience they'll remember — and perhaps even inspiring a future career or two along the way. ❤️
⚽️ MUSIC EVERMORE FC
MAKES ITS DEBUT!
Because apparently running music sessions, fundraising and preparing for one of the biggest weekends of the year wasn't keeping us busy enough...
August also saw the formation of Music Evermore FC! ⚽️🤣
A massive thank you to local Wythenshawe heroes Happy Somedays for organising a brilliant charity football tournament alongside Live From Wythenshawe Park.
And we're pleased to report that Music Evermore's talents apparently extend beyond the rehearsal room...
Music Evermore FC finished THIRD! 🥉
Our glorious cup run eventually came to an end in the semi-finals at the hands of The Warehouse Project, who went on to win the whole thing.
Absolutely solid them lot, I'm tellin' ya.
A big shout out to our brilliant tutors Pat and Harry for swapping their instruments for football boots, Dan from adidas for volunteering with us once again, and James Ryan from Wythenshawe Forum Creative Space for stepping in as our fifth player.
Not a bad result for our first ever outing.
Music Evermore FC: played one tournament, finished third. Retire with the record intact? ⚽️🏆🎸
☀️🎸 SUMMER BAND SESSIONS — WHAT A BLAST!
Who said the school holidays meant taking a break from making music?!
Throughout August, our Summer Band Sessions at Wythenshawe Forum Library Creative Space have been an absolute blast, with young people getting together each week to play, learn, experiment and make loads of noise!
Across the four groups, everyone had the opportunity to learn new songs, try out different instruments and experience playing together as a band.
For some, it was a chance to continue developing the skills they'd been working on with us throughout the year, while for others it was their very first taste of making music with Music Evermore.
It was particularly brilliant to see some of our familiar faces welcoming and helping the newcomers settle into their groups. ❤️
Some of the groups even took things a step further and began writing their own original music! 🎶
After learning about song structure and looking at how the songs they'd been playing were put together, they were able to take those ideas and start building songs of their own from scratch — experimenting with different parts, instruments and ideas along the way.
Most importantly, the sessions gave young people somewhere free, creative and positive to spend their summer holidays, meet other young musicians and keep making music while school was out.
A huge thank you to Joe Webster and Creativity in Place at Manchester City Council for funding our August Summer Band Sessions and making it possible for us to offer all of these opportunities to young people in Wythenshawe completely free of charge. ❤️
A brilliant month with up to 40 participants each week — and a great reminder that creativity definitely doesn't take the summer off! ☀️🎸
💰 ANOTHER YEAR OF WYTHENSHAWE MUSIC!
And amongst everything else, we received some brilliant news for the future of our work in Wythenshawe.
We're delighted to have secured support from Manchester City Council's Your Neighbourhood Fund, helping us continue providing fully funded music opportunities for young people in Wythenshawe.
It means another year of young people being able to access instruments, tutors and the experience of playing in a band without cost being a barrier.
After seeing the friendships, confidence, performances, original songs and brilliant young bands that have already grown from these sessions, we're incredibly excited to see what the next year brings.
Thank you to Manchester City Council for continuing to believe in what we're building. ❤️
🏆 WE'VE BEEN NOMINATED FOR A BEST OF MANCHESTER AWARD!
As if August hadn't already given us enough to celebrate...
We're absolutely delighted that Music Evermore has been nominated for a Best of Manchester Award!
It's another fantastic bit of recognition for everything our tutors, young musicians, families, funders, volunteers and supporters have helped us achieve.
We'll be heading along to the Best of Manchester celebration event on Tuesday 15th September, and we're really looking forward to celebrating alongside some of the brilliant people and organisations doing great things across Manchester.
Whatever happens on the night, we're incredibly proud to have been nominated.
Fingers crossed! 🤞🏆
🔔 SUMMER'S OVER... BACK TO WORK! 🎸
And just like that... the summer holidays are over!
After a summer of festivals, fundraising, football, summer schools, awards news and plenty of music, you'd think we might fancy a quieter September.
Absolutely not. 🤣
From this week, Music Evermore is back with a bang across all of our schools, with our tutors heading back into classrooms, rehearsal rooms and music spaces across Greater Manchester and beyond.
Guitars are being tuned, drum kits are being rebuilt, keyboards are being plugged back in and hundreds of young people will once again be making music with our team every week.
Our regular funded sessions are returning too, and we're incredibly excited to get another year of music-making underway.
After everything that's happened this summer, we're heading into the new academic year with more schools, more sessions, more opportunities and plenty more plans up our sleeves.
So much for resting and recharging...
BRING ON 2026/27. ❤️
Music Evermore CIC
Creating opportunities. Making noise. Changing lives through music.