East Lodge, located in Potternewton Park in Chapeltown / Harehills, has stood unused for many years while the local area continues to lack affordable, welcoming spaces for families, local residents, music and the arts. This historic building represents a rare opportunity to secure a long-term, community-owned home for creative learning, family activity and cultural life in the heart of the neighbourhood.

My name is Caitlin, and I live a few streets away from East Lodge. I am a mother of two and run Music at Heart, a well-established community music organisation that has been delivering high-quality early years and family music education for nearly 15 years — including 10 years in York and the past 4 years in Leeds. Music at Heart is currently based at Harehills Lane Baptist Church.

Since 2023, Music at Heart has supported around 250 families in Leeds through early years and family music activity, with around 100 families accessing free bursary places due to barriers such as income, SEND, or perinatal mental health challenges. These bursaries are supported by the National Lottery, demonstrating both clear need and trusted delivery.

At present, our work takes place in hired spaces with limited availability, which restricts how many families we can support and limits growth. Through consultation in March 2025, families told us they want more free and low-cost music opportunities, gentle and inclusive performances for young children, and safe, welcoming places where families can spend time together.

Our proposal is to form a new charity (a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, CIO) to purchase and steward East Lodge on behalf of the community. East Lodge would be developed as a community music and arts space, with music education for families with 0-7s as the primary purpose.

The upper floor would be dedicated to early years and family music education, rehearsals and workshops, including provision delivered in partnership with local nurseries and schools. One day each week, the building would close to the public to provide specially designed music provision for disabled and neurodiverse children and their families.

The ground floor and outdoor areas would operate as a shared community space — somewhere families, audiences and local residents can gather before and after classes or events, listen to live music, and spend time together. Quality, affordable food and drinks would be available, delivered in partnership with a trusted, values-led non-profit organisation that understands music as the heart of the building. This would enable families and local residents to stay longer, feel welcome, and support the sustainability of the music programme.

The outdoor space would include seating, seasonal refreshments such as hot drinks and ice creams, a small natural or wild play area, and a lovingly nurtured community garden. The building would be fully accessible at ground level, with a disabled toilet, step-free access and space for prams.

East Lodge would also host low-impact evening gigs and events, alongside affordable hire for local groups, with a strong focus on diversity, inclusion and local culture. Any income generated would be modest and reinvested directly into the music and arts programme, helping to support core costs and widen access.

Members of the local community previously came together to try to secure East Lodge four years ago, but the opportunity was lost. The building has since been refurbished, has been on the market for several years, and the seller is now only in conversation with us. This is a second chance.

This petition is not asking for money. By signing, you are helping demonstrate clear local support to heritage, capital and arts funders, showing a strong public mandate for East Lodge to be secured for long-term community benefit in Chapeltown and Harehills.

Please help us reach our goal of 2,500 signatures before the end of April 2026, to show funders and decision-makers that this project has strong, visible backing from the local community. If you have experienced Music at Heart’s work, please consider leaving a short testimony when you sign. These messages will be shared with funders as evidence of community impact.

East Lodge has the potential to become a place where families and local residents feel welcome, creativity is nurtured, and music plays a central role in community life. With visible community backing, we believe we have the momentum needed to bring this vision to life.

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If you’d like to receive updates about the East Lodge campaign and Music at Heart’s community music work, please choose to hear from us when you sign the petition.