Victorious Festival raises almost £50,000 for good causes in Portsmouth

THOUSANDS of pounds raised from this year’s Victorious Festival has been pumped into good causes across the city.
The charities received cheques from the Victorious Festival organisers during a presentation at the Guildhall. Picture: Victorious FestivalThe charities received cheques from the Victorious Festival organisers during a presentation at the Guildhall. Picture: Victorious Festival
The charities received cheques from the Victorious Festival organisers during a presentation at the Guildhall. Picture: Victorious Festival

At a presentation in Portsmouth Guildhall yesterday, the organisers of the annual festival gave away a total of £48,569 to charities and organisations in Portsmouth.

This year’s festival, held at Southsea Common back in August, included Clean Bandit, New Order, Plan B and Two Door Cinema Club as some of the headline acts.

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Among the recipients were the Friends of Southsea Rock Garden, Tonic Music and Portsmouth Cats – which rescues abandoned cats in the city and received £300.

The crowd for The Zutons at Victorious Festival 2019. Picture: Vernon Nash (230819-025)The crowd for The Zutons at Victorious Festival 2019. Picture: Vernon Nash (230819-025)
The crowd for The Zutons at Victorious Festival 2019. Picture: Vernon Nash (230819-025)

The charity’s coordinator, Janine Davis, said: ‘This is a really good and very important donation, which will help us to pay the vet bills for cats that we rescue.

‘On the morning before the presentation we saved five cats – our monthly vet bills are around £1,500 so this will help to pay for that.

‘This is the first year we’ve been given money by Victorious and it’s great to see them supporting local good causes.’

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Another recipient was the Portsmouth Lifeboat Station, which received £691.

The organisation has also received cheques from Victorious Festival in the past, but this year’s money has a very special purpose for the crew.

Lifeboat operations manager Jacqui Hutchins said: ‘It’s marvellous – to come to an event like this and see the other charities that are beavering away in the city is great.

‘It’s quite heartwarming and a little bit emotional, to think about just how much work is being done here in Portsmouth.

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‘This money will go towards a new boat that we are fundraising for; we’re looking to raise £52,000 in total.’

Deputy council leader, Cllr Steve Pitt, says a lot of the work done by the organisers of Victorious Festival is done behind the scenes, saying some of them helped with the Bandstand events in the summer, as well as D-Day 75.

He said: ‘They deserve a lot more credit than they get – this goes so much further than just three days of music.

‘The fact that what they do and what they give back affects thousands of lives in a really positive way is great, and we should show them a lot more recognition for that.’

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Ben Miles, one of Victorious Festival’s organisers, said: ‘What we have in front of us today is a broad spectrum of charities and community groups – but crucially they are all local, which is the main ethic behind this.

‘The Portsmouth community should benefit from what we do each year.

‘I think it gives all of us a great sense of pride; to know we’re doing our bit for the community is a brilliant feeling and people are able to see the tangible results of it.

‘It's important to give back to the community you're in, regardless of what industry you're in – these are the people who continue to support us and the festival, so we’re delighted to do the same for them.’

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