Frank Turner to support music therapy charity with Portsmouth gig next month

Frank Turner during his Saturday night headliner set at Wickham Festival 2019. Picture: Vernon Nash (030819-037)

Nordoff Robbins, the UK’s largest independent music therapy charity, is organising a night of live music that will see Frank Turner and 11 other musicians play in venues across the UK on Wednesday, September 25.

The folk singer-songwriter, who grew up in the Meon Valley, will be playing at The Wedgewood Rooms, in Albert Road, Southsea, following his headline set at the Wickham Festival.

He said: ‘My visit to Nordoff Robbins earlier this year, to attend a session with some autistic beneficiaries, was both eye-opening and moving; to see real, tangible progress being made, in real time, for people who really need it, was a unique experience for me.

‘They have my full support, and I look forward to doing more with them.’

The show is set to be the musician’s smallest Portsmouth show in over a decade, and will be his first standalone headline show in more than five years.

Other acts taking part in the night of live music include 10cc in Komedia, Brighton, and Louise Redknapp in Omeara, London.

Since starting in 2016, the Get Loud nights have raised more than £280,000 for the music therapy charity, with previous acts including Everything Everything, All Saints, Enter Shikari.

The chief executive of Nordoff Robbins, Julie Whelan, said: ‘Our Get Loud campaign gives us the chance to highlight the way in which music can truly enrich the lives of people facing some very difficult challenges, and promote the work we are doing in communities right across the UK.

‘We thank all of our Get Loud artists for joining us this year – together, we look forward to celebrating the work of Nordoff Robbins, and promoting the incredible power of music.’

Last year, the charity supported more than 10,200 people with disabilities and life limiting illnesses through music lessons.

The organisation, which works with the Earl Mountbatten Hospice on the Isle of Wight, is set to open a community service at the Warren Centre in Southampton in September.

Tickets for the Get Loud gigs will be on sale from 10am on Friday August 9, costing £10 – click here for more information.