THE St Austell Festival of Music and Speech has announced that its syllabus for the 2025 festival has been now released.

The festival offers classes in the Spoken Word (poetry, readings and drama) for individuals and groups. It also offers a wide range of music classes for individuals, small groups and larger ensembles and aims to be a fun, friendly festival where people can enjoy performing.

The festival was founded in 1948 with some very distinguished actors and musicians having performed as youngsters, including John Nettles of Midsomer Murders and the late Dennis Brain, a leading French horn player of his generation.

Karen Frost, who is the festival’s general secretary, said: “I truly believe that the opportunity to perform is vital to our young people. The skills they learn and the confidence that they gain from standing up in public and performing are essential in adult life. We’re also very pleased to be offering an Early Years Drop in Music Session for under fives with CMST’s specialist Early Years Team on Monday, November 24.”

The festival is moving this year from its traditional two-week structure to a full week of celebrating the performing arts. It will take place at its traditional home, St John’s Methodist Church in St Austell in late November. Entries close on Friday, October 18 at 11.59pm.

Heather Vaughan, the festival’s chairman, said: “We believe that we have a class for everybody to enjoy performing, whether competitively or in a non-competitive class. The committee is always willing to listen to feedback and if you can’t find a class that fits your requirements, our Spoken Word and Music Secretaries will gladly seek to add one so that you can have the opportunity to perform.”

The 2025 festival syllabus is available online at staustellfestival.org