Medact

Mould is Political Screening – Sheffield
2025-06-30 18:30 - 20:30 (Europe/London) | Sharrow Community Forum, The OId Junior School, S View Road, Sharrow, Sheffield, S7 1DB, United Kingdom
Over 2 million people in the UK are living in homes with black mould – a serious risk to their health and wellbeing. But it’s not tenants who have gotten us into this situation –  it’s politicians. For too long, politicians have prioritised landlords’ wealth over people’s health. Now, we’re saying: enough.A new film from the Homes for Us alliance, Mould is Political, shows the impact of black mould on one family, and how ordinary people are coming together to demand change.Here in Sheffield, far too many people are living in cold, damp and unsafe homes – making them sick and causing constant stress, all due to political failure and profiteering landlords.

Join Medact Sheffield and Sheffield Tenants Union for a screening of Mould is Political, followed by food and a discussion about the issues people are facing here in Sheffield, and how health workers, tenants and community members can come together to organise for decent, safe housing for all.

Medact's Strategy – Online Call: Membership Culture 1
2025-07-02 19:00 - 20:30
As part of the movement for health justice, your voice is vital in shaping the future of Medact’s work.

We’re developing our strategy for 2025–2030 together, and it’s crucial that it reflects the insights of those driving change on the ground. This is your opportunity to influence its direction!

Join the online calls

We are holding four two online strategy calls: two themes, each with two dates. Sign up below! (Please only sign up to one of each theme.)

Membership Culture at Medact: How can we make Medact a political home for healthcare workers?These sessions provide an opportunity for members to reflect on their experiences within Medact and offer constructive input on how to develop an inclusive and supportive organisational culture that aligns with our mission.

Medact's Strategy – Online Call: Membership Culture 2
2025-07-03 19:00 - 20:30

Medact Leeds group meeting: July
2025-07-03 19:30 - 20:30
The Leeds group come together monthly for meetings, mostly online and sometimes in person! Medact Leeds are organising locally for climate and health justice as part of the Health for a Green New Deal network, and also taking action to end the hostile environment, campaigning for Patients Not Passports. All are welcome. Please sign up to the mailing list to join the group.

Abolitionist Approaches to Health Group – July Meeting
2025-07-09 18:00 - 19:30
The Abolitionist Approaches to Health Group (originally named the ‘Securitisation of Health Group’) is a space for health workers and campaigners to collectively challenge policing, criminalisation and securitisation practices within and beyond sites of healthcare.The groups’ current priority campaign is calling for the repeal of Prevent in the NHS, the adoption of evidence-based public health policies, and the redressal of harms caused by Prevent. We organise as three working groups: Workshops & Public Engagement, Policy & Lobbying, FOIs and Research.New members are always welcome! If you have any questions or concerns about attending, please email our Campaign Lead Sarah Lasoye at sarahlasoye@medact.org.

Medact London group meeting: July
2025-07-10 18:30 - 20:30 | Medact, Pelican House, 144 Cambridge Heath Road, London, E1 5QJ
Across London, health workers are organising and campaigning for better access to secure, quality, affordable and sustainable housing. This includes working alongside local groups to support local campaigns, as well as demanding policy change on a national level. All are welcome.

If you would like to get involved you can contact Jordi (jordilopezbotey@medact.org) or Cal (calumbarnes@medact.org)

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in touch, you can also sign up to the Medact London email list using the box below for updates on our work.

The meeting is hybrid, on Zoom and in-person at our office in Bethnal Green:

Medact, Room 104, Pelican House144 Cambridge Heath RdLondon, E1 5QJ

Medact Bristol group meeting: July
2025-07-14 18:00 - 19:00
Medact Bristol is interested and engaged in local, national and international issues that affect public health. Since its creation, Medact Bristol has focused its efforts on campaigns on climate, environment and sustainability, divestment, and migrant access to healthcare. The group’s most recent focus was supporting Reclaim our Buses, a campaign in Bristol to bring buses back into public control. They are now supporting a tenant-led campaign for healthy housing. New members are welcome! Sign up below to receive updates from the group and links to join meetings.

Nuclear Weapons Group - July Meeting
2025-07-16 18:00 - 19:30
Medact’s Nuclear Weapons Group represents the longest standing aspect of Medact’s work towards nuclear abolition, and to address war, armed violence and conflict as global threats to health.

We meet to provide an update on our ongoing campaigning work, and discuss the current global political landscape as related to nuclear weapons, militarisation and disarmament. Register below to receive the meeting link! For more info or with questions, email Sarah: sarahlasoye@medact.org

Trans Health Justice
2025-07-17 19:00 - 20:30
Trans people seeking gender-affirming healthcare are routinely confronted with pathologisation and the slow violence of years-long waiting lists. In the past five years, attacks on trans healthcare in the UK have intensified:

The NHS has halted prescription of puberty blockers for under-18s in the context of gender-affirming care

Adult trans healthcare services remain chronically underfunded and difficult to access

A recent Supreme Court ruling undermines the right to bodily autonomy and self-determination

These attacks are not isolated – they’re part of a wider rollback of health services and human rights in the UK.For this online event, we’ll explore the state of trans health and trans rights in the UK, how they’re shaped by social and economic determinants like housing and austerity and what resistance rooted in solidarity and justice can look like.We’ll hear from:

Jack Doyle, historian & trans health advocate

Fae Fulconis, athlete and campaigner

Shiraz Hussain, member of rs21

This event is especially valuable for health workers, but it’s open to everyone – so please share widely!This is part of Medact’s Learning for Action series that aims to equip us with the knowledge and skills we need to win a more just world.

Welcome call: join the No Palantir in the NHS campaign
2025-07-21 19:00 - 20:30
Effective organising often comes from workers and communities coming together to fight for their demands. Palestinian health unions have called for our solidarity and action to end the complicity of our institutions in the genocide. Following recent wins at the BMA Annual Representative Meeting, health workers have more power than ever to organise in their workplace for Palestine.

Health Workers for a Free Palestine UK’s (HW4FP UK) current campaign is focused on a US-based military, AI and surveillance company called Palantir that supplies its technologies to the Israeli Defence Ministry whilst it orchestrates genocide in Gaza. They also supply technology to ICE for mass deportations in the US and provide police forces with ‘predictive policing’ technology. This company was recently awarded a £330 million contract with NHS England to manage confidential patient data on a national scale.We say “no” to Palantir in our NHS. Attend this onboarding call hosted by HW4FP to find out about and involve yourself in the No Palantir in the NHS campaign and organise against privatisation, surveillance and genocide. We will go through the strategy and history of the campaign, as well as organising tips and help you to set up campaigns in your local area.Join the worker-led movement to end complicity in genocide!

Medact Leeds group meeting: August
2025-08-07 19:30 - 20:30

Medact North East Meeting: August
2025-08-13 20:00 - 21:00
Medact North East are a collective of health workers and students based across the North East, from Northumberland to Newcastle to Middlesbrough!

Currently we are working on a climate justice campaign, supporting a grassroots group to win the fight against a large waste incinerator on Teesside, which would pollute the air of the local community as well as accelerating the climate crisis.

We are also exploring campaigns around migrant health justice issues through our new ‘Migrant Health’ group. This includes supporting No to Hassockfield which is fighting to shut down a women’s detention centre in County Durham.

The group meets monthly. Each meeting is facilitated by a different person and they welcome new members! The time is used to discuss current campaigns and anything else relevant. For more information or to join a meeting in-person, get in touch at northeast@medact.org or subscribe below.

Nuclear Weapons Group - August Meeting
2025-08-20 18:00 - 19:30

Medact London group meeting: August
2025-08-21 18:30 - 20:30 | Medact, Pelican House, 144 Cambridge Heath Road, London, E1 5QJ
Across London, health workers are organising and campaigning for better access to secure, quality, affordable and sustainable housing. This includes working alongside local groups to support local campaigns, as well as demanding policy change on a national level. All are welcome.

If you would like to get involved you can contact Jordi (jordilopezbotey@medact.org) or Cal (calumbarnes@medact.org)

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in touch, you can also sign up to the Medact London email list using the box below for updates on our work.

The meeting is hybrid, on Google Meets and in-person at our office in Bethnal Green:

Medact, Room 104, Pelican House144 Cambridge Heath RdLondon, E1 5QJ

Abolitionist Approaches to Health Group – September Meeting
2025-09-03 18:00 - 19:30

Medact New Joiners meeting: September 2025
2025-09-04 19:00 - 20:00
Have you joined Medact any time in the last twelve months? Are you not yet involved in your closest local group or one of our central campaigns or research network?

Welcome to our movement of health workers for health justice! We’d love to meet you at our next New Joiners meeting. This will be a friendly, informal and interactive session and an opportunity to get to know us and let us get to know you.

Some of the things that we’ll be discussing include:

What is Medact?

What do we mean by health justice?

How do we believe change happens?

What can it look like to organise together in the Medact movement?

Whether you’ve just joined or joined a while ago but are yet to find your place, please do come along and share this welcoming space with us.

If you have any questions about attending, drop our Movement Organiser Calum an email at calumbarnes@medact.org.

Medact Bloc @ Shut DSEI Down
2025-09-09 10:00 - 14:00 | Excel Centre, Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western Gateway, London, E16 1XL, United Kingdom
Medact is going to the upcoming demo – Shut DSEI Down!

What is DSEI?

One of the world’s largest arms fairs, Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI), will be back at London’s ExCeL Centre from Tuesday 9 September to Friday 12 September 2025. Stop the Arms Fair organises a programme of events, actions and mobilisations before and during DSEI.

Medact are mobilising on Tuesday 9th September – alongside Health Workers for a Free Palestine UK, and 100 other campaign groups and organisations – to add our voice to a broad coalition of organisations and groups standing firmly against: DSEI, the arms industry, and the UK government’s egregious role in upholding the military-industrial complex, fuelling war and genocide.

How to join us!

Register to join us so we know you’re coming! Members of the Medact staff team will be present (spot our banner!) and you can join this announcement-only WhatsApp group ahead of time to receive updates in the run up about precise arrival time and meeting points!

Welfare

Police presence is almost certain at this mobilisation. This may feel worrying, especially if it’s your first time at a demonstration like this. We highly recommend staying together as a group, and following the advice of Medact staff present to ensure against any unwanted encounters with the police.

Remember, taking action together can be a joyous, powerful and affirming thing to do! And if you’re new to Medact, it’ll be a great way to meet people already involved.

We recommend wearing sturdy shoes, bringing snacks, water, warm waterproof clothes, and a fully charged phone. If you have any questions or concerns ahead of the day – you can email our Peace and Security Campaign Lead, Sarah – sarahlasoye@medact.org, or office@medact.org.

Alternative Training on Prevent
2025-09-17 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom
It is possible to create a society in which our collective safety and wellbeing are prioritised. Developing trusting, healthy relationships between patients and health workers is essential to this work. However, the Prevent Duty – with the government’s stated aim of identifying “vulnerability to radicalisation” – compromises all of this.

As we’ve outlined in our work, Prevent is a source of harm and increased marginalisation, particularly for Muslim and racialised communities, as well as those with mental health conditions.

So, why is the NHS the only healthcare system in the world with a legal obligation to engage with such a strategy? What aren’t you being told about the harms of Prevent in safeguarding training?

Join us for this series of Alternative Training on Prevent to learn more, and find out how you can add your voice to the movement to end the Prevent Duty. Together we call for #CareNotSurvelliance!

This event is particularly aimed at people who work or are training in, study, or who have worked in health – though everyone from our movement for health justice, interested in learning more, is welcome! If you have any questions or concerns ahead of this event – feel free to email me, sarahlasoye@medact.org.

Medact London group meeting: September
2025-09-18 18:30 - 20:30 | Medact, Pelican House, 144 Cambridge Heath Road, London, E1 5QJ

Nuclear Weapons Group – September Meeting
2025-09-24 18:00 - 19:30

Abolitionist Approaches to Health Group – October Meeting
2025-10-01 18:00 - 19:30

24th IPPNW World Congress in Nagasaki
2025-10-02 00:00 - 2025-10-04 23:59

Medact All Member Assembly (AGM) 2025
2025-10-03 18:00 - 21:00
The All Member Assembly is our annual opportunity to come together, reflect on Medact’s work, and engage in shaping our direction – welcoming members old and new from across the UK and beyond.

This year, we’re excited to launch our new five-year strategy, which outlines how Medact will continue working towards a world in which everyone is able to live healthy, dignified lives – supported by political and economic systems that prioritise our collective wellbeing.

RSVP

The evening will include a panel discussion with guest speakers (details coming soon!), a presentation of our new strategy and an opportunity for members to vote on its adoption. We’ll close the event with music, snacks and drinks for those attending in person. Members will also have the chance to submit and vote on motions, and to elect any Trustees standing for election.

Everyone is welcome to attend the meeting, but you must be a member to vote. If you’d like to take part in Medact’s decision-making, why not join as a member today?

Submitting motions

The All Member Assembly offers a space for members to propose changes to how Medact is run. If you’d like to submit a motion, please first read “Decision Making in Medact: Governance and AGM”, then contact us at office@medact.org to request a submission form.

The deadline for submitting motions is 9am on Wednesday, 24th September 2025. You must be a member to submit a motion, and it must be seconded by another member.

Election of Trustees

At the Assembly, members will also elect Trustees, who are responsible for the governance of Medact. If you are interested in standing as a Trustee, we encourage you to get in touch for an informal chat. Please email office@medact.org to arrange this and request information about standing for election.

The deadline for applications is 9am on Wednesday, 24th September 2025. To stand as a Trustee, you must be a member and have your nomination seconded by another member.

Logistics

This year’s All Member Assembly will be held in a hybrid format – both in person at Pelican House in Bethnal Green, London, and online via Zoom.

Please register below to let us know you’re coming, and to share any access requirements.

We’ll share the final agenda as soon as it’s confirmed.

Sign up

Agenda

Part one: “Power in Community: Reimagining Organising for Health Justice” – Medact Strategy 2025-2030 launch & panel discussion

6:00 – 7:20 pm

1. Welcome & Introduction

Anuj Kapilashrami, Chair of the Board of Trustees

2. Medact 2025-2030 Strategy Presentation

Anna Peiris, Executive Director

3. Panel Discussion

Organising for Health Justice with Jo Sutton-Klein, organiser for BMA

Jo is an emergency medicine registrar and is doing a PhD looking at poverty in A&E. She has been centrally involved in organising several campaigns among doctors. Recently she established a group of doctors who organise around Palestine solidarity within the BMA. She was also a founding organiser of the pay campaign, and wrote the strategies which facilitated tens of thousands of doctors to participate in the recent strike wave. Outside of medicine, Jo has previously organised several campaigns in the Jewish community in support of Palestine.

Making a Political Home for Health Care Workers with Ben Eder, Medact Sheffield

Ben (he/him) is an organiser and GP trainee in Sheffield. He is one of the coordinators of Medact Sheffield. He was, until recently, one of the Movement Organisers at Medact from 2021 until 2024 and prior to that worked as the Climate & Health Campaigner. Ben also organises with the People’s Health Hearing Collective. Ben spends his time dreaming about autonomous spaces for radical community health, swimming and walking in the peak district, playing and chatting football, and having fun with his partner and their 18-month-old son.

Working with Impacted Communities with Izzy Braithwaite, Medact London

Isobel Braithwaite is a public health registrar and has been involved with the London Housing and Health group since 2023, including supporting campaigns in Harrow and at the Nags Head Estate. She has just finished a PhD at UCL focusing on the health impacts of cold and energy-inefficient housing, and recently started in a local authority public health role. She has also worked with the Faculty of Public Health’s Sustainability SIG around climate change and local action on fossil fuel advertising.

4. Audience Q&A / Reflections

Part two: Governance

7:30 – 8:30

Medact Gathering 2025
2025-10-04 10:00 - 2025-10-05 16:00
The gathering is now full!! We’re really sorry if you didn’t manage to register. Get in touch with James if you have any questions! – jameskinner@medact.org

You can still sign up to our All Member Assembly (our revamped AGM) the evening before on Friday 3rd October, we’d love to see you there!

Join us in October for the 2025 Medact National Gathering – a two-day event packed with inspiring sessions. Hear from voices across the Medact movement and the incredible people and organisations we organise alongside.

The gathering will take place in-person at Pelican House, 144 Cambridge Health Road, Bethnal Green, London. We’ll be providing lunch and breakfast on both days, and dinner on Saturday.

We are inviting London-based attendees to host those joining from other areas. If you are in need of accommodation – or able to offer a place to stay – you can let us know via the registration form below.

Saturday 4th October | 10am – 6pm, followed by a social til late

Targeting corporate actors and ending institutional complicity – with Health Workers for a Free Palestine and Don’t Bank on the Bomb

Solidarity in the face of sickness: how our care is part of liberation struggles – a session on building radical autonomous sites of care

Disability Justice – how we can learn from and build alongside disability rights organisers

How do we build a radical movement for health justice? – Medact’s role as a political home

We came here to win – How to design successful campaign strategies

Research for action – an introduction to the new Medact Research Network handbook

Imagination as a tool for health justice – creative writing workshop

Plenty of time to connect with folks from across Medact’s groups and campaigns

Saturday Evening Social!

Stay after the sessions for a BBQ dinner as we take over the Pelican House event space

We’ll welcome Raised Voices Choir for a short performance after dinner, followed by music and (optional) dancing.

Sunday 5th October | 10:30 am – around 4pm

Resisting and responding to the rise in the far right and state fascism – with Patients Not Passports

Research for housing and health justice & developing our DNA – with Homes for Health

more tbc!

Tickets are free!If you are able to donate, your support helps ensure we can make the event accessible to more people and enables us to keep organising events like this. If you’re not yet a member of Medact, we especially encourage you to consider joining or making a donation. We don’t want cost to be a barrier – if you need support to attend, please get in touch at office@medact.org.

The gathering is now full!! We’re really sorry if you didn’t manage to register in time. Get in touch with James if you have any questions! – jameskinner@medact.org

You can still sign up to our All Member Assembly (our revamped AGM) the evening before on Friday 3rd October, we’d love to see you there!

Homes for Health National Organising Group meeting: October
2025-10-08 18:00 - 20:00
The ‘Homes for Health’ campaign unites the health community across the UK with a shared vision to reclaim our homes for people and the planet.

The National Organising Group meets monthly online to coordinate the collective work of the Homes for Health Network. Bringing together our two policy areas (Economic Justice and Climate) with representatives from local groups across the country.

We start at 6pm – 6.30pm for new folks with an onboarding call then move into our rolling agenda from 6.30pm when our regular members join.

This is a coordinating group for members involved in the network – If you would like to get involved you can contact Cal (calumbarnes@medact.org), Jordi (jordilopezbotey@medact.org), or Jack (jackdoyle@medact.org).

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in touch, you can also sign up to the Homes for Health mailing list for updates on our work.

The meeting is online via Zoom. Please get in touch for a link.

Medact London group meeting: October
2025-10-16 18:30 - 20:30 | Medact, Pelican House, 144 Cambridge Heath Road, London, E1 5QJ
Across London, health workers are organising and campaigning for better access to secure, quality, affordable and sustainable housing. This includes working alongside local groups to support local campaigns, as well as demanding policy change on a national level. All are welcome.

If you would like to get involved you can contact Jordi (jordilopezbotey@medact.org), Cal (calumbarnes@medact.org) or Jack (jackdoyle@medact.org)

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in touch, you can also sign up to the Medact London email list using the box below for updates on our work.

The meeting is hybrid, on Google Meets and in-person at our office in Bethnal Green. Please let us know if you’re planning on coming along:

Medact, Room 104, Pelican House144 Cambridge Heath RdLondon, E1 5QJ

Nuclear Weapons Group – October Meeting
2025-10-21 18:00 - 19:30

Medact Sheffield New Joiners Meeting: October 2025
2025-10-28 19:00 - 20:30 | Quaker Meeting House, 10 St James Street, Sheffield, S1 2EW
Are you new to Medact Sheffield or want to find out more about how you can get involved?

Welcome to our movement of health workers for health justice in Sheffield! We’d love to meet you at our New Joiners meeting on Tuesday 28th October. This will be a friendly, informal and interactive session and an opportunity to get to know us and let us get to know you.

We’ll be sharing some food together and discussing:

What is Medact?

What do we mean by health justice?

How do we believe change happens?

What can it look like to organise together in Medact Sheffield?

How can you get involved in our working groups?

Location: Quaker Meeting House 10 St James Street, Sheffield, S1 2EW

Time: 7pm – 8.30pm

Whether you want to join or joined a while ago but are yet to find your place, please do come along and share this welcoming space with us.

Building a Nuclear Weapons Free World
2025-11-01 18:30 - 21:30 | St. Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, 78 Bishopsgate, London, EC2N 4AG, United Kingdom
An evening celebrating the memory of Dr Martin Hartog

Join Medact at St. Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace for an evening lecture from Dr Carlos Umaña. We welcome Medact members, health workers, students and particularly young campaigners as we reflect on campaigning for a nuclear weapons free world.

There is an increasing urgency to strengthen our campaigning movement, and build closer connections and coalition with movements dedicated to climate justice, anti-militarism and anti-imperialism.

Following the lecture, we’ll hear a discussion between Carlos and UK-based campaigners for disarmament, chaired by Marion Birch, on the challenges and opportunities for growing the movement for nuclear disarmament in our current political context. The evening will close with a drinks reception for attendees.

Dr. Carlos Umaña is a general practitioner, former local health director, and epidemiological surveillance officer with the Costa Rican Ministry of Health. Serving until recently as IPPNW co-president, he is also on the ICAN International Steering Group. He is the current president of IPPNW Costa Rica, founder of Artists for Peace (2014) in Costa Rica, and president of the activist group “Peace and Diversity”. He is also the recipient of the 2018 “Alan Turing LGBTIQ Visibility Award” for Social Organization.

Since 2013, he has worked by campaigning and lobbying for awareness on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons (HINW) and support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). He has worked closely with governments as part of the Costa Rican delegation in the 2014 NPT PrepCom and the 2015 NPT Review Conference, and has worked with the network of regional peace organisations to organise conferences and roundtables on the HINW and the TPNW.Cordelia Vesely campaigns locally, nationally and internationally for a range of health, gender and environmental justice issues, including disarmament, demilitarisation and international humanitarian law. She has just finished her term as co-director of Students for Global Health UK, where she built student capacity in advocacy and policy making. Her work has taken her to the UN and been recognised by organisations like the IPPNW for whom she has led European sessions on human rights and peace.Jake Atkinson is a campaigner on issues related to inequality and human rights. As Senior Adviser at STOPAIDS, he co-convened UK and global civil society alliances campaigning to improve equitable access to medicines, protect human rights, and improve funding to tackle infectious diseases. He was also part of the first Steering Committee of Youth for TPNW, the global movement of young people in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons from 2021 to 2024. He currently works for Tax Justice UK with a focus on taxing the super rich and big polluters, and on securing a bold United Nations Tax Convention.

Marion Birch has worked on public health and healthcare programmes in countries affected by armed conflict and disasters for 20 years, principally in Sudan, Mozambique, Angola and Sri Lanka. In the UK she has worked as a training manager, health advisor and consultant, and for eight years was director of the global health charity Medact. Presently Marion teaches and examines part time at University College London (Institute for Global Health and the Global Business School for Health), at City St George’s (University of London), and at the Society of Apothecaries. She is editor of the Routledge / Taylor & Francis journal Medicine, Conflict and Survival which is affiliated with IPPNW and their UK affiliate Medact.

In memory of Martin Hartog (1931-2023)

This event is made possible thanks to the generous donation of a founding member of Medact, the late Dr Martin Hartog (1931–2023). Martin was the first chair of Medact and an active member of the Nuclear Weapons Group until his death in July 2023.

The horror of any use of nuclear weapons was close to Martin’s heart for many years. He was deeply involved with the Medical Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons (MCANW) until it merged with the Medical Association for the Prevention of War (MAPW) to form Medact in 1992. Martin served as the Chair of Medact in those early years, and was an active member particularly with our Nuclear Weapons Group for the rest of his life.

Martin felt passionately about the need to introduce and involve younger generations of campaigners in the movement for nuclear disarmament. His legacy donation to the group contributed to enabling recruitment of a project coordinator for the Don’t Bank on the Bomb! UK campaign, and additionally supporting this public lecture. Medact is the UK affiliate of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW)

Autumn Concert for Peace
2025-11-02 15:00 - 17:00
Autumn Concert For Peace presented by the MPD Chamber Ensemble

The Autumn Concert for Peace’s programme is full of joy and optimism. In its blending of expressive melodies with masterly control in combining the three instruments, Schubert’s youthful String Trio recalls Mozart’s masterpiece, the Divertimento K 563. Three duos for clarinet and bassoon have been attributed to Beethoven, but their origin is not completely clear. Whoever the composer, they abound in good humour and witty interplay between the instruments; No. 2 is typical, and contains a particularly touching slow movement. Nielsen’s music is often quirky and original; the Serenata in vano portrays a group of musicians who attempt to serenade a lady, but when that fails, they go home playing a jaunty tune.

Beethoven’s Septet achieved immediate success – something he later resented, when the public failed to appreciate some of his more serious and profound works. It is genial and uncomplicated, and provides opportunities for each player to shine. The final movement ends with a breathless flurry of triplets for the violin.

Interval speaker: Dr. Swee Chai Ang Co-Founder, Medical Aid for Palestinians

ProgrammeSchubert String Trio in B-flat, D 471Beethoven Duo in F for clarinet and bassoonNielsen Serenata in vanoBeethoven Septet in E-flat major, Op. 20

Standard £20 Concession (Over 65s, Students, Unwaged) £15All proceeds donated to organisations in the peace movement.
