Neston Music Festival first came into being in September 2000. The first concert was a relatively small-scale affair, organised to raise money for the restoration of St Thomas’ Church, Parkgate. The number of musicians involved was 15, and the programme comprised baroque, classical and romantic pieces for strings, some including harpsichord and trumpet. This first event was relatively successful, and demonstrated a demand in Neston and the surrounding areas for this type of event.

Since this first concert, the Festival has become progressively more ambitious, and has raised over £8000 for two local charities. These are Claire House Children’s Hospice and Wirral Churches’ Ark Project (a shelter for the homeless in Birkenhead). The most recent classical concert, in September 2007, involved some of the North West’s best amateur musicians, all of whom gave their services free of charge. The programme comprised Wagner’s Overture to Die Meistersinger, Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, and Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony. The soloist in the concerto was local cellist, Stephanie Oade. The Festival is directed by Eric Jennings, formerly Principal Trombone with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and the standard of performance has been consistently high. In addition to the classical concert, last year’s festival featured a performance by Bactiguard Wire Brass.

This year’s events will be a classical concert on the evening of Saturday 30th August, followed by a brass band concert, again featuring Bactiguard Wire Brass, on Sunday evening. The highlight of the classical concert is to be a performance of Grieg's Piano Concerto by Jesse Beaumont, a young up and coming soloist and chamber musician.

The philosophy of the Festival is to make high-quality music available to local people at an affordable price. The classical programme is selected to appeal to a wide audience and no compromise is made in respect of performance quality. The Festival has attracted financial support from a number of local companies, who pay for advertising space in the concert programmes. Our performance venue is Neston Parish Church, which is provided free of charge through the generosity of the Vicar of Neston.