Having seen my own mother through a stroke that left her with vascular dementia and in a care home, I know from personal experience how important music can be to people who find themselves in that position.

I used to lean on friends to give informal concerts in that home. And though they were used to grander venues – some of them being seriously eminent, like Stephen Hough – I was able to guarantee that they would never have had a more appreciative audience. Which was how it always turned out.

So I can picture how it’s been over the past weeks at Spring Grove care home in Finchley Rd (across from JW3) where there has been a “friendly competition”, as the organiser puts it, for young musicians from local schools and youth organisations.

Heats have been held in the form of Sunday afternoon concerts, running through February and March. And the final is this Sunday 20th at 2pm. Details: contact Spring Grove, 020 8815 2000

OPERA CIRCLE

It’s become a sort of tradition that once a year a group of singers from the Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artists scheme give a concert in Highgate, introduced by the distinguished ex-Royal Opera bass (and Highgate resident) Robert Lloyd. This year is no exception. And the event (featuring Emily Edmonds pictured) will run in much the same form as before, with opera arias and ensembles accompanied by piano, at Dyne House, Southwood Lane N6 this Sunday afternoon.

Hosted by the Highgate Opera Circle, it begins at 3pm. Tickets from Highgate Literary & Scientific Institute, or 020 8340 3343.