Thank you for the music: Weldmar’s final Music by the Lake event shines despite a soggy start

Almost 1,500 people enjoyed live music from some of the UK’s leading tribute acts in Dorchester over the weekend at Weldmar Hospicecare’s final Music by the Lake event.

The three-day festival at Dorchester Showground fell victim to the weather on Friday, with driving rain forcing the cancellation of the first show which was due to feature tributes to Robbie Williams, Pink, and the Spice Girls.

Despite that disappointment, the remainder of the weekend was hailed a huge success by revellers, with Abba, Madonna, and Duran Duran tributes performing at a lively show on Saturday evening, where a particular highlight was the moment that England beat Switzerland in the quarter finals of Euro 2024, and a huge cheer went up across the crowd – it seems a good number of festival goers were keeping an eye on the match on their mobile phones!

Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, and Stevie Wonder acts wrapped up the festival at a more relaxed Sunday afternoon show.

Thank you for the Music: Music by the Lake’s final goodbye

It was announced in May that this would be the final Music by the Lake event, due to the significant time and costs to put the event on, in an increasingly competitive live events market. However, those attending were overwhelmingly positive.

Debby Sheldon said on Facebook, “What a fantastic night, Shame it’s the last one. Well done to everyone on the planning and volunteering for this event. Excellent time had by us all.” Steve Wade described it as a “terrific evening’s entertainment”, with Joanne Stewart adding, “Brilliant evening – thank you!! Sorry it is the last year though.”

Appearing on stage to address the crowd before ‘Stevie One’ closed the weekend, Weldmar’s Chief Operating Officer Matt Smith extended thanks to the many volunteers who helped to marshal the car parks and arena and check guests in at the gate, among other duties. There was also an acknowledgement to the Mayo family, who own the site, for being so accommodating since Weldmar moved Music by the Lake to its new home in 2022, and to Hustings Electrical who have provided electricity at no charge (no pun intended!) for the event during that time.

Music by the Lake was originally planned as a one off event at Kingston Maurward in 2019 to mark Weldmar’s 25th anniversary, but its success led to a decision to make it an annual event until the decision to bring it to an end this year – as Weldmar celebrates it’s 30th birthday.

A total raised by the event for Weldmar is yet to be finalised, with refunds on Friday tickets to be arranged. A number of ticket holders have already indicated they will forego a reimbursement in order to support the charity.