The Charity
OUR MISSION
The Local & Live festival has long championed local, grassroots music, often giving musicians the opportunity to perform to their biggest crowd of the year in Calverley Grounds.
But in an area as culturally vibrant as Tunbridge Wells, we believe there’s more work to be done in supporting our music and arts community.
That’s why, in 2019, Local & Live founder Paul Dunton joined forces with likeminded members of the community to form Local & Live Music – a registered charity with an official mission to promote the music we all love.
Aims and objectives
Now, Local & Live Music is led by a board of trustees, see below.
Collectively, their role is to fulfil the charity’s aims and objectives, as follows:
“To promote public appreciation of and education in the arts and music by delivering a free to attend community festival, to include the performance of live original music and spoken word and other music-related educational events and opportunities.”
For more information on the charity and how you can help raise funds to meet our goals, please contact us.
The Trustees
Paul Dunton
Founder
Hi I am Paul; I founded Local & Live back in 2006. The idea was to create a free festival for the local community featuring local original acts to mark the town’s 400th Birthday.
The first Local & Live took place on the bandstand situated on The Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells on the August bank holiday weekend and was a great success. This inspired me to grow the event and make it an annual festival.
We enjoyed 8 fantastic years on The Pantiles before we outgrew it and in 2014 moved to Calverley Grounds.
It has been an absolute pleasure to see the festival grow year on year while remain free to attend, Local & Live is a not-for-profit event and in 2019 we gained charity status thanks to the dedication of Nigel Bent.
The ethos of Local & Live remains the same to this day; we have a mission to help more people discover local, grassroots music and find their voices as part of our cultural community.
It remains a huge privilege to play a role in bringing the festival back to Calverley Grounds each year.
From the local businesses who support us to the artists who play and the many thousands of people who come to cheer them on, Local & Live belongs to us all.
Jason Dormon
Trustee
Jason is a musician and prominent underground music figure. He’s a massive champion of grassroots music, famously co-founding the legendary independent music venue The Forum in Tunbridge Wells and serving as a founding team member for the Music Venue Trust (MVT).
He serves as a trustee for the Local & Live Music Festival charity, which delivers free, accessible and multi- generational arts programming to the region. Jason also spearheads Unfest – the town’s independent fringe festival.
Peter Taylor
Trustee
Peter is one of the founding Trustees of Local & Live. His role for 2026 is Site Production Lead.
He is a builder by day and musician and promoter by night (and at weekends!).
Peter is Director of Tunbridge Wells Music Productions Ltd with Nigel Bent.
He performs with his own bands The Airstreams, The River Flows and The Harveys.
Nigel Bent
Charity Founder
Old enough to know better but young enough not to care!
Nigel is a retired IT Company Director who has lived in Tunbridge Wells for over 30 years.
He plays in three local bands; The Airstreams, Coney Island Maybe and Higgs and the Bosons.
Nigel runs TW Music Production Ltd withPeter Taylor; providing PA, lights, sound engineering and stage management for local events such as; Moondance Festival, Spa Valley Railway Beerfest and private parties.
Nigel and Peter ran a stage at Black Deer for three years – but sadly that festival is no more. He guarantees it was not his fault!
He is heavily involved in the local music scene and Local & Live in particular. Having been responsible for setting up Local & Live as a charity in 2019 Nigel became one of the founding Trustees.
Nigel stepped down as Trustee in 2024 but is still involved in the charity’s admin, particularly financial matters.
Paul Coe
Trustee
Paul has worked as an accountant and auditor for just under 30 years. Initially dealing with large charity audits but these days covering all types of individuals and businesses.
For Local & Live Paul pays the bills and deals with bookkeeping and submissions for the Charities Commission. Over the bank holiday weekend, by his own admission, he will mainly be carrying fences!
Anna Howie
Trustee
Anna Howie is a singer and songwriter who has been part of the local music scene for the last 20 years.
Following the release of her second album ‘Good for Roses’ last year. She has just finished her 2nd full band UK tour and is currently working on her 3rd album.
Anna is a firm believer in the power of music and voice in education and has worked in Schools, colleges, prisons, with community and charity groups and sports teams.
Paul Reader
Trustee
Paul is Managing Partner of Berry & Lamberts Solicitors and lead guitarist in Kharma and the Devil.
He has been a trustee of Local & Live for the past 4 years and has assisted in raising the funding for the festival through sponsorship.
Heather Tilston
Trustee
Heather joined the Board of Trustees in 2026 and has been running the social media accounts and public relations (PR) activity for Local & Live.
Previously in corporate PR, she’s now a singing teacher at MusicStation in Tonbridge and one half of The Tilston Sisters who perform around Tunbridge Wells at different events, either as a duo or with a backing band.
Steve Goodwin
Trustee
Steve is based in Crowborough working as a graphic designer and artist/printmaker.
He has been a Trustee since 2024 and runs the Local & Live website, along with producing various artwork for social media, event banners and marketing material.
Local And Live Music is a Charity (CIO) No. 1182100. Registered in England and Wales.
