14th April 2020

South Devon College staff are already very engaged with the community and are not only providing exceptional support to the NHS, but they are pioneering projects that inspire further members of our community to do what they can to help out the front line workers.

There is plenty of room to be creative with how you can provide support for the NHS which is exactly what music lecturer Barney Dine has done.

Barney was approached by Brett Morton, owner of Offshore Bar and Restaurant in Torquay, to support with the music production as many artists from the area have worked with Barney already. From there a conversation was set up with a number of local musicians across the live music scene in Torbay. The original purpose of the project was to support the lost income of musicians and artists, as a result of the closure of venues, by sharing proceeds that came from creating an album consisting of local musicians’ work between the artists involved.

However, even before the situation developed and further support was then announced for the self-employed, the conversation amongst the artists developed and the focus shifted on using the money raised to support the NHS instead. This approach was then very quickly adopted by all the people involved in the group chat set up on Facebook and things then really got moving.

Barney has since created a 50 track album coming from 50 different musicians and bands which, with the support of LukeTom Web Design, can be accessed for free online but with prompts to donate to the NHS in exchange for the fabulous display of the local talent available in Torbay. The website is torbayrocks.co.uk.

So far, the project has raised over £1,600 which is a great achievement but there is plenty of room for more support.

With a wide array of fantastic local artists featuring on this page, such as Barney Dine himself, Adam Isaac, Harbour, Little Waves, Mafia 4, Joey The Lips, and many more, you’re bound to find music you like whether it is original music or covers with artists’ own twist.

Go and check out why Torbay Rocks and whilst you are there, donate what you can to support our incredible NHS front line workers who are putting themselves in harms way to save as many people as they can.

If you’re interested about studying music at South Devon College, then visit southdevon.ac.uk to see what courses are available or get in touch by emailing at [email protected] or call on 08000 380 123.