On the second Festival weekend we’ll have FREE live music on the Cloister Stage in the Cloister Garden behind Dorchester Abbey

Everything from choirs to bands, singer songwriters to cover bands – it’ll all be there surrounded by lovely food and drink stalls!  So just turn up, buy a pint or a coffee and some gorgeous lunch or snacks and sit and enjoy the fun and chilled vibes!

Saturday 9th May

10.30am Rock Choir
11am The Greenway Project
12noon Rock Choir
12.45 Wally Ukes
2pm Merlin Bateman-Paris
3pm Only The Brave

Sunday 10th May

12noon Aled Bath
1pm Jody Prewett
2pm Pandemonium
3pm Oxford Gospel Choir

Didcot Rock Choir
Our local Didcot Rock Choir is run by singing teacher Krisha Kaye and performs at local Oxfordshire music, food and fireworks festivals and joins other Rock Choirs for national and regional events, giving members unrivalled performance opportunities and experiences beyond compare, ranging from appearing at Wembley Stadium to singing at the Rugby!  It’s new friends, performance achievements, socials, an incredible choir leader Krisha and above all – singing beautiful pop song arrangements!

The Greenway Project
The Greenway Project are a local 5-piece covers band, featuring sax, duelling guitars, bass and their eponymous drummer (you may even spot the Curate!). They play a wide mix of genres, including rock, soft rock, hard rock and sing-along rock. Think Abba to AC/DC. You can judge them by their covers.

Wally Ukes
Wally Ukes is a super friendly local group with a songbook spanning the last 60 years. They play everything from timeless classics to modern hits, offering something for everyone. With bass, percussion, harmonica and more alongside our ukes, join us for an upbeat session of great songs! 

Merlin Bateman-Paris
Now performing solo following his time with The Bartenders covers band, Merlin Bateman-Paris @mbparismusic plays guitar and harmonica while singing mesmerising songs inspired by folk, gypsy jazz, and the blues.

Only The Brave
Only The Brave are a six-piece band from South Oxfordshire. Formed in 2024 the band plays self-penned songs that tell stories of longing and dog-legged lives. Influences range from classic artists like Stephen Stills to the contemporary Jamestown Revival, Midlake and Waxahatchee. We hope our music dwells with you like an old friend offering bittersweet vignettes for life’s unpredictable path.
Ian Salisbury, Steve Eyre, Tara Eyre, James Arbuckle, Ian Wild and Chris Baines. Photo: Chris Baines

Aled Bath
The Still Cans is the solo project of Dorchester-based singer-songwriter Aled Bath, whose acoustic and electric songs explore life’s universal experiences through the lens of nature and human connection. With memorable hooks and thoughtful lyricism, his music draws comparisons to Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Damien Rice, and Glen Hansard.
In this intimate acoustic performance, Aled will perform original songs from his forthcoming album “50:50”, including singles ‘The Ocean In Between Us’, ‘Amy’, and ‘Edge of the River’, alongside fan favourites from his repertoire. Mixing acoustic guitar with lush layered live loops to build rich soundscapes, he creates a dynamic solo performance that brings depth and texture to each song.
Links to songs:Amy – release date 6^th March 2026  The Ocean In Between Us – release date 6^th February 2026
YouTube: Edge of the River (live @ The Snug in September 2025)

Jody Prewett

As the former lead singer and guitarist of the critically acclaimed band Trophy Wife, Jody has a varied and rich musical background.
​The band’s single “Microlite,” released on Moshi Moshi Records, became a cult favourite; championed by Zane Lowe, Mark Riley and Tom Ravenscroft amongst others. Extensive touring followed alongside heavyweights such as Bombay Bicycle Club, Foals, Two Door Cinema Club and No Age at venues such as Brixton Academy,  The Troxy, Amsterdam Paradiso, London Koko and Kentish Town Forum. The band also appeared at many prodigious festivals including Pukkelpop Belgium, Lowlands Holland, Dockville in Hamburg, Latitude and Bestival, promoted a debut album release in Japan and  landed a slot opening for Ed Sheeran in Paris.
​After this whirlwind of success and the bands demise, Jody took a wholly necessary step back from the music industry, pursuing his other passion for working in education, a field he has worked in for many years. Jody is now a well established and in demand music educator.
​However, his creative impulses never evaporated and his recent album of guitar instrumentals, inspired by time spent in nature, entitled “Trails,” showcased his fledgling brand of cinematic folk. A set of intricately arranged neo-classical and folk pieces that unfold “like the evolving landscape of a walk” (Joyzine). 
His most recent release, River Songs, is a collection of intimate, imagistic folk ballads that draw upon his love for artists such as John Martyn, James Taylor and Sufjan Stevens. The album has a nostalgic, fantasy-tinged sense of romance that “brings to mind a minstrel traversing the fields of Albion” (​No Transmission).  
​Both releases have at their core a deep love for being in nature and finding solace and peace through feeling connected and indebted to the wild.
2026 is set be a busy year as Jody releases a new album called ‘Places Beyond’. The 10-songs are see Jody exploring a more expansive sound with greater depth of textures, ambience and more detailed instrumentation than previous releases. The album could be described as ‘sci-fi folk’; a narrative of unexplained phenomena runs throughout, from crop circles and UFO’s to clairvoyants and standing stones. With the album approaching the final stages of completion, more details will follow soon.

Pandemonium

Pandemonium is a versatile music group based in Wantage, Oxfordshire, who sing and play a variety of instruments, including: melodeon, recorder, English concertina, bodhran (Irish hand drum), guitar, bass, violin, piccolo, Irish banjo and mandolin. Their repertoire includes tunes, monologues, recitations, and poetry – serious and light-hearted – and they sing popular songs with an emphasis on fun and informality.

The Oxford Gospel Choir

The Oxford Gospel Choir, now celebrating its 21st year, is a vibrant community choir where everyone is welcome to join in singing an uplifting repertoire of Gospel and popular music that inspires and uplifts. In 2024, they celebrated our 20th year.   A friendly and diverse group of singers from Oxfordshire, embracing all beliefs, ages, and abilities with rehearsals as much about community and fun as they are about music, coming together each week to share in the joy of singing.

They follow traditional Gospel teaching methods, learning by listening and copying rather than using music scores. This approach allows the songs to become part of them, so they can sing from memory, freeing them to dance, groove, and fully express the joy in the music.  They are joint holders of the Guinness World Record for the largest-ever Gospel choir performance, singing alongside 1,200 other voices. They’ve also twice been finalists in the BBC Songs of Praise Gospel Choir of the Year competition.

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