Did you know that there is an annual celebration of music and drama in Oundle? It is called the Oundle Festival of Music and Drama (OFMD) and it takes place every spring. It was founded by Lady Millicent Lilford from nearby Lilford Hall, and Lady Ethel Wickham of Barnwell Castle. It first took place in the Large Hall (now known as Oundle School’s Great Hall) on Wednesday 21 April 1909.
It began as a music competition with classes for local choirs and ensembles, and in 1968, it grew to include speech and drama classes. The OFMD is even older than the federation it is affiliated to – the British and International Federation of Festivals – which was formed in 1921, to create performance opportunities for amateurs in local communities.
The festival takes place in our charming market town each spring, starting just as our Lent Term finishes. It runs over the course of a week with performers of all ages, from pre-school to senior citizens, performing in their chosen fields of music, speech, and drama, in a friendly atmosphere. They receive helpful feedback from trained and approved professional adjudicators.
Local festivals are a wonderful way of gaining supportive competitive performance opportunities for everyone. They give you the chance to hear other repertoire and hopefully be inspired by the other performers. The emphasis is on participation, enjoyment, and performance. This allows you to develop skills such as creativity, curiosity and focus, and it increases confidence without the fear of judgement, so building self-esteem and emotional resilience. They expose us to quality live performances which broaden our cultural horizons, build a sense of community pride, and provide us with an overall enjoyable experience. Those involved feel part of a wider community as a result of the shared experiences amongst the performers and the audience.
Each performance is scored by an official adjudicator, and one of the most useful parts of festival participation is receiving the adjudicator’s comments. These are hugely valuable, detailed, and often highlight specific points to work on. They help to raise aspirations, hopes for the future, and provide memorable learning experiences outside the classroom. They can also offer a different view from one’s own music teacher.
At the OFMD there is a huge variety of choral and vocal classes, with solos, duets and choir performances from groups of all ages. If you are aged between 14 to 18 years old you could enter the Oundle Young Singer of the Year contest where the winner will be invited to perform at the festival concert at the end of the week. There are also speech and drama classes for those reading prepared texts, reading from sight, speaking from memory and group speaking.
The instrumental classes comprise of brass, keyboard and piano, percussion, strings, woodwind, orchestras, bands, and ensembles. As with the singing classes, competitors aged 14 to 18 years can qualify for the final for the Oundle Young Musician 2026 by winning their Instrumental Solo Class with a suitably high mark.
The festival culminates in an inspiring celebration concert which features performers from many sections of the festival and showcases the qualifiers for the Oundle Young Musician of the Year Award. Prizes are awarded to all the finalists and the overall winner is awarded the Oundle Young Musician of the Year, with a trophy and a cash prize. The winner of this award is often also invited to give a 45-minute recital the following summer, as part of the Creative Oundle events.
When I was eight years old, I could never have believed that when I first entered the OFMD in 2016 on piano, I would be fortunate enough to be awarded the Oundle Young Musician of the Year in 2025 – albeit on the French horn! This is the power of a local, friendly, encouraging festival.
Support is always needed to help keep festivals like the OFMD going. A team of volunteers works tirelessly behind the scenes for most of the year to organise, oversee, and run the week-long festival. However, over the last few years, since the COVID-19 pandemic, entries from schools are down and this is disappointing. Prior to the pandemic, local independent festivals were flourishing and now they are struggling to stay afloat. Similar festivals in other parts of the country have recently had to close due to a lack of entries and increasing costs. It is so important to cherish and celebrate what we have in the OFMD and to not let it disappear. The OFMD are always looking for patrons and sponsors from the business and professional community of Oundle and surrounding villages. Without these generous donations, local sponsorship, and the volunteers the festival would really struggle.
So please, have a look at www.ofmd.org.uk and support your local festival and help to continue its proud heritage. Consider putting yourself out of your comfort zone and enter a class or two. It may just provide you with the platform you need to shine from within and who knows, the next Oundle Young Singer or Musician of the Year might just be you or someone you know.
The entries for the 107th OFMD open on November 1, 2025, and will close on Sunday 25 January 2026 at 6pm. The festival itself starts on Saturday 21 March running through to Friday 27 March 2026, concluding with the evening celebration concert at St Peters Church where the Oundle Young Musician of 2026 will be announced.
