Early parenthood can be an intensely joyful but also vulnerable time. Many parents experience loneliness, anxiety and poor mental health during the first years of a child’s life.

Through our bursary programme we see this first-hand. In 2025, around 70% of Music at Heart bursary places were used by parents — particularly mothers — who were experiencing poor mental health or isolation during early parenthood.

Regular opportunities to meet other parents, sing together and participate in gentle musical activity can play an important role in supporting parental wellbeing and strengthening early parent–child relationships.

Research consistently shows that musical interaction in the early years supports children’s development across multiple domains. Studies demonstrate that rhythm and melody perception are strongly linked to language development, including phonological awareness and grammar acquisition in young children.

Other research shows that regular musical interaction between parents and babies can strengthen social communication and bonding, while also supporting early language development.

Despite this evidence, early years music provision in the UK is often fragmented, underfunded and inaccessible, particularly for families facing financial or social barriers.

Potternewton Park is a much-loved 32-acre park at the heart of the community and the home of the internationally recognised Leeds West Indian Carnival, which celebrates the area’s Caribbean heritage and attracts visitors from across the city each year.

Despite its importance as a community gathering space, the park currently lacks some of the basic facilities families rely on when spending time outdoors with young children, including accessible public toilets, indoor shelter and family-friendly refreshment space.

For parents with babies and toddlers, these facilities are not optional — they are essential for being able to safely spend time in the park.

Restoring East Lodge would allow these facilities to return while also creating a welcoming indoor community space open throughout the year.

Music at Heart Community Spaces is committed to ensuring that East Lodge reflects and celebrates the cultural heritage of the local community. While many of Music at Heart CIC’s families come from multilingual households, around 15% of families currently attending classes identify as Black or from Global Majority backgrounds, and increasing participation from these communities is an important priority.

Through community consultation forums, local residents have already begun shaping ideas for how East Lodge could celebrate the heritage of Chapeltown and Harehills. Suggestions have included:

• artwork celebrating the history of Potternewton Park and the Leeds West Indian Carnival
• murals honouring the Caribbean musical traditions of the area
• collaboration with local Black artists and community groups
• partnerships with Leeds West Indian Carnival and other cultural organisations
• opportunities for local residents to contribute to the design and decoration of the building

By locating our work within Potternewton Park itself, we hope to make Music at Heart more visible and accessible to local families who may not currently engage with arts activity.

Communities such as Chapeltown and Harehills are vibrant, resilient and culturally rich, but like many urban areas they can also face social challenges. Recent events in Harehills during 2024 highlighted the importance of positive community spaces that bring people together and support local wellbeing.

A welcoming community building within the calm setting of the park can play an important role in creating opportunities for connection, creativity and shared experience for families from many different backgrounds.

The proposal to bring East Lodge into community use has already received significant support from local residents. A public petition calling for the building to be secured for community benefit has gathered more than 1,500 signatures, demonstrating clear demand for the building to become a welcoming cultural space for families and the wider community.

Opportunities to secure historic buildings for community use are increasingly rare. The current owner of East Lodge has agreed to grant a nine-month exclusivity period, to allow the community the opportunity to purchase East Lodge. Without community action now, the building may return to private sale.

To secure East Lodge and bring it into charitable ownership, we need to raise £480,000 by November 2026. The purchase price of the property is £430,000 (subject to independent RICS valuation) and we need an additional £50,000 for legal and other fees as well as immediate access improvement costs.

If successful, East Lodge will become a permanent home for early years music and community arts in North Leeds — ensuring that this historic building continues to serve families, artists and educators for generations to come.

Upstairs, East Lodge will provide a dedicated classroom for Music at Heart’s Kodály-inspired early years music programme.

From this space we will deliver a growing programme of weekly classes for babies, toddlers and young children, helping families experience the joy of singing and musical play together.

Our current programme includes nine weekly classes, reaching around 85 families each week, and demand continues to grow. By September 2026 we expect to expand this to 11–12 weekly classes, alongside additional workshops for nurseries, schools and early years educators.

This dedicated classroom will allow us to create a calm, carefully designed musical environment that supports children’s listening, movement, singing and musical development.

On the ground floor, East Lodge will provide a warm and welcoming space for families and locals visiting Potternewton Park.

This space will include:

• family-friendly refreshment facilities
• accessible public toilets for park visitors
• informal seating and gathering space for parents and carers
• a place for small community events and creative workshops

For families with babies and young children, access to these basic facilities can make the difference between being able to spend time in the park or needing to leave early.

The café space will also provide opportunities for local employment and volunteering, helping strengthen connections between the building and the surrounding community.

East Lodge will reflect the rich cultural heritage of Chapeltown and Harehills.

Through community consultation forums, local residents have already begun sharing ideas for how the building could celebrate the history and identity of the area. These ideas include artwork celebrating the history of Potternewton Park, murals honouring the Caribbean musical traditions of the community, and connections with the Leeds West Indian Carnival, which takes place in the park each year.

By working with local artists and community members, we hope the building itself will become a celebration of the area’s musical and cultural heritage.

In addition to regular music classes, East Lodge will provide space for:

• singing circles and creative play sessions for babies and parents
• workshops for early years educators
• small performances and community arts events
• partnerships with local schools, nurseries and cultural organisations

The aim is to create a building that feels welcoming, creative and rooted in the life of the local community — a place where families can return week after week as their children grow.

Once purchased, East Lodge will be held in charitable ownership by Music at Heart Community Spaces. This ensures that the building will remain a community-focused cultural space for generations to come, protected from commercial development and governed for public benefit.

By restoring this historic building and bringing it back into daily use, we hope to ensure that East Lodge once again becomes an active and welcoming part of life in Potternewton Park.

The charity’s objects, as submitted to the Charity Commission, are to provide and maintain accessible community facilities for music and the arts for the public benefit.

Charitable ownership ensures East Lodge cannot be privately sold for profit, and that any surplus income from rent or compatible hire is reinvested into the building’s upkeep, access improvements and community provision.

The project follows a community asset stewardship model, placing East Lodge into independent charitable ownership to secure long-term public benefit and community access — an approach closely aligned with community ownership and cultural infrastructure funding priorities.

East Lodge will become small-scale cultural infrastructure for the Chapeltown, Potternewton and Harehills communities: a permanent, accessible base for early years music education and community arts activity, held in charitable ownership so it remains accountable to public benefit and rooted in local need over the long term.

Music at Heart Community Spaces exists to steward community spaces for long-term public benefit, with East Lodge currently the charity’s first and primary project.

The charity’s role is not to deliver a single programme, but to steward spaces that enable stable, accessible community assets supporting music, arts and cultural participation for generations.

By placing the building into charitable ownership, the trustees ensure that East Lodge cannot be privately sold for profit and that any income generated through its use is reinvested into maintaining the building, improving accessibility and supporting inclusive community activity.

The charity prioritises participatory arts and educational use, particularly activity benefiting children aged 0–7, families and the local community. At the same time, the building will remain open to a wider range of compatible cultural and community uses that align with the charity’s objects.

Trustees are responsible for ensuring that all decisions relating to the building — including partnerships, programming and financial arrangements — are made solely in the best interests of the charity and the communities it serves.

In this way, East Lodge is intended to become the first small but lasting piece of cultural infrastructure stewarded by the charity for Chapeltown, Potternewton, Harehills and the wider Leeds community.

Music at Heart Community Spaces CIO is committed to stewarding East Lodge as an inclusive, accessible community asset with a clear early years focus. We recognise that children, families and residents experience barriers to arts and community spaces in different ways — particularly Disabled people, SEND families, and communities who have historically been under-represented in cultural decision-making locally and nationally.

East Lodge sits adjacent to the home of Leeds West Indian Carnival and within an area of profound Black cultural heritage. The charity is committed to ensuring the building visibly reflects and celebrates the cultural history of Chapeltown and Harehills through programming, partnerships and the curation of the space itself.

Our approach is grounded in ongoing consultation and partnership, not one-off engagement. This includes active relationships with Chapeltown Neighbourhood Forum, Leeds West Indian Carnival, local nurseries and schools, and Disabled-led and SEND-informed practitioners.

Inclusion is embedded in our governance and delivery through a diverse trustee and advisory network, named voluntary leadership roles, and a commitment to adapting the building, programming and use of the space in response to lived experience. East Lodge will continue to be shaped with — not just for — the communities it serves.

We are committed to ensuring East Lodge becomes a genuinely accessible space, shaped through consultation and delivered with integrity. Our current commitments include:

• Step-free ground floor access
• Accessible WC and baby-change facilities
• A formal SEND and Disabled consultation process prior to renovation
• Commitment to meet and, wherever feasible, exceed minimum regulatory accessibility requirements
• Programming co-designed with Disabled and neurodivergent families

Access will be considered in both the physical design of the building and the nature, format and delivery of activity within it.

Community engagement is embedded in the life of our charity and extends beyond one-off consultation. Alongside a skills-based trustee board, voluntary leadership roles, advisors and a volunteer-led fundraising steering group, we are hosting a series of Community Forums open to local families, educators, community groups and partners — including early years and KS1 teachers, school leaders, cultural organisations and residents.

We will maintain open channels for participation through online consultation, in-person gatherings and regular project updates as the acquisition and development process progresses. This approach combines strong governance with local accountability and meaningful community voice, helping ensure East Lodge is stewarded for long-term public benefit as a welcoming, culturally active community space.

Music at Heart Community Spaces CIO will own and steward East Lodge as a community asset for public benefit. The charity provides space for a range of cultural and community activity, including early years music education. Music at Heart CIC will be the primary delivery partner and anchor organisation within the building, alongside space made available for compatible community, cultural and charitable activity.

Any financial relationship between the CIO and Music at Heart CIC will be governed by a formal lease agreement at an agreed market or sub-market charitable rate, with all conflicts of interest declared and managed in line with Charity Commission guidance.

These roles carry responsibility and active involvement, without trustee liability.

Lorina Gumbs – Cultural & Carnival Liaison (voluntary)
Lorina brings deep cultural knowledge and longstanding connection to Leeds West Indian Carnival, which takes place annually in Potternewton Park right next to East Lodge, and the Chapeltown community. She supports inclusive cultural use of East Lodge and strengthens links with local families, artists and community networks.

Sarah Wilde – Advisor (Safeguarding & Early Years)
Sarah is the manager and SENCO at Chapeltown Community Nursery, with extensive experience in safeguarding, SEND inclusion and early years leadership. She provides oversight to ensure the building and all activity meet the highest standards for children, families and staff.

Carolyn Yates – Charity Secretary (non-trustee)
Carolyn is a Director and Early Years Music Teacher at Music at Heart CIC. She attends all charity board meetings as Secretary, supporting governance administration and ensuring strong continuity between strategic decisions and delivery practice.

Our advisors provide occasional, specialist guidance to the charity during the building acquisition phase. They do not hold governance responsibility but bring deep experience of capital projects, heritage buildings and community-led development.

Elizabeth Fellows – Advisor (Finance & Risk)

Lizzie works in a senior finance role at Hyde Park Source, a Leeds-based charity managing multi-million-pound programmes, assets and public funding. A Music at Heart parent, she brings strong financial governance, risk management and funder accountability expertise.

Mike Love – Advisor (Capital & Arts Buildings)

Mike is a founding trustee of Left Bank Leeds and was involved in the early funding and development work that brought the building into public, charitable ownership. He brings experience of capital fundraising, arts infrastructure and the practical realities of stewarding a heritage building for community and cultural use.

Peter [Surname] – Advisor (Community-led Development & Finance)

Peter is a founding member of Chapeltown Cohousing and was closely involved in the financial and governance decisions that enabled the project to proceed. He brings insight into community-led development, local authority engagement and the financial realities of long-term community asset ownership.

A small, time-limited fundraising steering group supports the capital campaign to secure East Lodge into charitable ownership. Members collectively include senior leaders from the charity and cultural sector, higher education and community organisations, alongside experienced fundraisers and local advocates.

Members:
Linda Holland, Sarah Ledjmi, Jamie Saye, Dr. Anwesha Sarkar, Pete Tatham, Hannah Beard, Caitlin Mayall, Jon Guy, Lizzie Fellows, Tom Coxhead, Rachel Dean
(plus additional supporters as needed during the campaign)

Chapeltown Community Nursery

Best Family Childcare Nursery, Chapeltown

Chapeltown Neighbourhood Forum

Book free tickets via Eventbrite to our next gathering – April date TBC.

We need to raise between £400,000-£450,000 to acquire the freehold of the building and complete the necessary adaptations for community use, including access adaptations. We welcome local and big business, individuals and organisations to pledge money and be part of this creative legacy for Leeds.

We anticipate a mixture of grant funding, business sponsorship and individual philanthropic donations will be required to bring this project to life. We have a Heads of Terms/Options Agreement in place with the current owner until end of November 2026, giving us a total of 9 months to raise the capital, before our seller can sell to another party.

Please email Caitlin for donation/pledge enquiries: caitlin@music-at-heart.co.uk

No. They are separate legal entities.

Music at Heart Community Spaces is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) responsible for owning and stewarding East Lodge for public benefit.

Music at Heart CIC is a Community Interest Company and non-profit which delivers early years music education. It may rent space within the building as an anchor delivery partner, but it will not own or control the property.

Music at Heart CIC will pay rent under a formal lease agreement approved by the trustees. Any financial arrangements between the CIO and the CIC will be managed in line with Charity Commission guidance, with conflicts of interest declared and properly recorded.

The charity exists to steward the building for public benefit, not to subsidise private gain.

Charitable ownership ensures the building cannot be privately sold for profit in the future and that any surplus income generated through its use is reinvested into maintenance, accessibility improvements and community activity.

Ownership also allows the trustees to make long-term improvements and access adaptations that would be difficult under a short-term lease.

The building will prioritise charitable and community use aligned with the charity’s objects. This includes early years music education, participatory arts activity, rehearsals, small performances and community gatherings.

Compatible hire may also take place where it supports the sustainability of the building while remaining consistent with the charity’s public benefit aims.

Accessibility is a core priority. Plans include step-free ground floor access, accessible WC facilities and a formal SEND and Disabled consultation process prior to renovation.

Accessibility will be considered both in the physical design of the building and in the way activities are programmed and delivered.

The charity operates under a Charity Commission Foundation Model Constitution which requires trustees to declare and manage conflicts of interest.

Trustees must withdraw from discussions where they have a personal or connected interest, ensuring that all decisions are made in the best interests of the charity and for public benefit.

Yes.

Once registered, the charity’s annual accounts and reports will be publicly available via the Charity Commission website in line with statutory reporting requirements.

No.

While early years music education will be a core activity within the building, the charity’s purpose is broader: to steward accessible community spaces for music, arts and cultural activity. East Lodge is the charity’s current project.