Gosport music festival hopes to boost Mayor's Trust Fund

Walpole Music Madness & Family Fun Day makes its debut appearance in Walpole Park, Gosport on Saturday.

All proceeds will go towards Gosport mayor Lynn Hook’s Charity Trust Fund.

The event will feature funfair rides, a mascot show and bands, with recently-reformed group Big Brother Soul headlining.

Gosport Rotary Club played a pivotal part in organising the event, which was granted an alcohol licence for the day.

The aim is to raise as much money for charity as possible.

Malcolm Dent, from Gosport Rotary Club, said: ‘When I was approached by Cllr Hook to help organise the event, I had a couple of ideas in my head.

‘It occurred to me that we haven’t had a music festival here in a while and thought, if we could get the right people, it would make a great event.

‘We’re expecting decent numbers to come to the event, hopefully between 1,000 and 3,000. It will be an excellent day if the forecast stays the way it is predicted. I’m not nervous about the event.’

He added: ‘The idea wasn’t just about raising funds. We thought that we would put on a great day for the community and anything that we make is an added bonus on top.

‘We’re only charging £2, which isn’t a lot of money for what is on offer considering the number of bands we have on and how long it is lasting.’

The charity fund raises cash for three causes – Street Pastors, Marvels and Meltdowns which is a group for families with children who have ADHD, and Kitbags and Berets, which helps veterans with dementia.

Gosport fundraiser extraordinaire Les Heyhoe, who also helped organise the event, said: ‘Malcolm approached me due to my experience organising similar things and we went from there. The great thing is that we have already covered the cost due to the sponsorships secured.

‘That means every penny that we make on the day can go towards the charities.

‘I’ve always said that having fun makes fundraising easy and the idea is to get the whole community together. It is great that the mayor is raising the money for three local charities who all do excellent work. There’s something for everyone on the day – we have a wide genre of artists playing and there’s plenty to do for the children.’

Businesses have played their part by sponsoring artists to play. Jan Bloor, of Elle J Ltd Hair & Beauty, said ‘When I was approached to be a sponsor of one of the acts I felt duty-bound to help and support a very worthy cause.’