Interview: Peter Edwards

Peter Edwards works as the Singing for the BrainTM Leader across several London boroughs. Ini- tially he started as a volunteer with Alzheimer’s Society in 2014 and since then has become a member of staff and led hundreds of weekly therapeutic musical interventions as well as showca- sing many of the service users (people affected by dementia) at some of London’s most prestigious venues – including The House of Lords, Buckingham Palace, The Lyceum Theatre and the Royal Albert Hall. Peter represented the Society at the House of Lords Commission into Dementia and Music and in 2018 his work with the Croydon SftB group was featured on the BBC Breakfast and Sky News Sunrise programmes. Peter retired from a varied and successful career in teaching in 2012 and then qualified as a mediator, working for Croydon Community Mediation service in addition to taking up again his work within adult education at City Lit as a teacher of Russian. He has also previously led adult groups in Communication Skills and Assertiveness. Peter’s main hobby, unsurprisingly, is music. He has performed as a vocalist (both solo and in duet) at Fairfield and Blackheath Concert Halls, the Battersea Barge and Pizza on the Park in London as well as in cabaret at such venues as Rose’s Turn, Don’t Tell Mama and The Duplex in Manhattan