Charity gig 'Never Forget Festival' at Southsea's Wedgewood Rooms raises £2,380 for Cancer Research UK

The Never Forget Festival took place in The Wedgewood Rooms, in Albert Road, Southsea on Saturday, June 3 and saw local bands Reactor 1, Kojaks Revenge, International Jet Set, Brit Pop Revolution and Sidetracked perform to delighted crowds. Almost all of the performers had been affected by cancer or lost loved ones to the disease. Proceeds from ticket sales and donations given at the event totaled £2380, all of which will go directly to Cancer Research UK.

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Organiser John Seymour, who performed in two bands, said the night was a ‘great success’ and thanked everybody involved including the musicians, Wedgewood Rooms manager Geoff Priestley and the audience.

He described a ‘special atmosphere’ at the show and recalled a highlight where audience members held up their phone torches during a rendition of Oasis’ Live Forever.

John, 54, reunited his Reactor 1 bandmate Trevor Broad to host the fundraising event, which also saw John’s 13-year-old son Indie Seymour give a ‘fearless’ performance.

Speaking to The News ahead of the show, John said: ‘I was in a band for 17 years with a guy called Trevor Broad and then obviously the lockdowns curtailed it all. It seemed like the natural end of the band we were in - called Reactor One. We talked and thought “wouldn’t it be nice just to do something.” So, we’ve resurrected Reactor One because of that, which is really nice because we’ve all been friends for years.

‘My sister got cancer just before Christmas - luckily she has recovered - but we’ve had probably four or five relatives die in the last year. Then, just leading up to Christmas and out of the blue Trevor’s wife got a brain tumour. She passed away at Christmas and my uncle then passed away as well.

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‘We want to raise a bit of money for charity, obviously, but also give everyone a great night out. A lot musicians struggle with their mental health. Everybody has lost people so it’s something for them to look forward to as well.’

John hopes to make the festival an annual occurrence.