STORY
NEWS
CANTERBURY TO HOST NEW SUMMER CONCERT WEEKEND
VOICE UK FINALIST PERFORMS FOR LOCAL CARE HOME RESIDENTS
Residents and guests at Rose Water Place care home in Maidstone enjoyed a live music evening as local singer and The Voice UK finalist, Olivia Rogers, performed a set of classic hits at the care home. The performance brought residents together for an evening of singing and shared entertainment.
A brand-new weekend of concerts is coming to Kent next summer as Canterbury Summertime Live launches in August 2026, bringing a huge festival experience to the historic heart of the city.
Set against the backdrop of St Lawrence Ground, home of Kent Cricket, the August weekender will bring together some of the UK’ s most exciting artists and festivalstyle lineups, attracting over 40,000 music lovers. The open-air venue will feature world-class production and international street food and drink traders, creating a true festival atmosphere at Kent’ s biggest concert site, which has previously welcomed superstar heritage acts Elton John, Simply Red, Michael Bublé and Bryan Adams.
The first artists confirmed to perform at the debut event are dance-pop star Becky Hill, who will headline on Saturday 8 August, and ska-pop legends Madness on Sunday 9 August 2026.
More major artists and full weekend lineups for Canterbury Summertime Live 2026 will be announced in the coming weeks, with organisers promising a huge celebration of music in one of England’ s most beautiful and historic cities.
Rose Water Place care home is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’ s largest care providers, who are committed to delivering personalised care across their care homes and hospitals. Rose Water Place provides residential and dementia care for 68 residents from respite care to long-term stays.
The event formed part of the home’ s ongoing enrichment programme, which offers regular activities and entertainment to support residents’ wellbeing and social engagement.
“ Our residents and guests had a wonderful day singing along with the wonderful performers,” said general manager, Hadrian Rodriguez.“ We do our best to provide a wide range of activities and entertainment at Rose Water Place and this was one of our favourites!”
SEVENOAKS STUDENTS GIVE BACK WITH 36,000 VOLUNTEER HOURS
Sevenoaks School celebrates the impact of its Service and Partnership work with a new report revealing that staff and students contributed more than 36,000 hours of voluntary service to local and global communities in the last academic year.
The report details the school’ s commitment to community engagement and its expansive reach in 2024 / 25. This includes collaborating with 32 primary schools, supporting over 6,000 young people and studentled fundraising in excess of £ 25,000 for charity through concerts and events.
The deep commitment to local organisations, demonstrated through timetabled weekly Service sessions, involved 523 students who ran enriching projects for primary school pupils, older residents and hospice patients. A project with real heart is the Riding for the Disabled( RDA) sessions at Bradbourne Riding and Training Stables.
“ The Sevenoaks’ students who volunteer with Bradbourne RDA provide an invaluable service to our group,” said instructor, Jenna.“ Having the students has enabled us to provide support for a blind rider who needs someone so that she can orientate herself and eventually perform a dressage test.” www. insidekent. co. uk • 161