Waterfront festival to make a comeback at end of this month

The Gosport Community Waterfront Festival will be making its return to the town from July 27-29 in Walpole Park, in an event that will be raising money for charity.

The popular festival was last held in 2013, with the 2014 event being cancelled by organisers.

Headlining the event are bands Lucky 13, The Dreamers and Heatwave, with solo performances from the likes of Nevaeh and Gosport singer Lacey-Love.

The festival will be supporting veterinary charity PDSA, which cares for thousands of sick and injured pets across its network of 48 pet hospitals. Locally, the charity's vets and nurses provide free and low-cost treatment to vulnerable pets in need at Portsmouth PDSA Pet Hospital, in Cowplain, which treats more than 65,000 animals every year.

Festival organiser John Kemp said: '˜We believe that people of the community should be able to attend a non-profit-making music festival in their town at an affordable cost '“ the team will work hard to ensure that this once truly loved Gosport Waterfront Community Festival will re-ignite the community once again.

'˜PDSA is very close to our hearts. Gosport and the surrounding area is situated in a deprived area which has experienced decline since the 80s when lots of the military jobs were lost.

'˜Many of us have used PDSA at some point and the charity is renowned for its incredible commitment to treating sick and injured and championing animal welfare.

'˜We want to give something back to PDSA as a massive thank you for their many years of support in the area.

'˜We don't know how much we will raise, but we will work as hard as we can to raise awareness and funds for PDSA.'

Rosie Gibbons from PDSA said: '˜We're so grateful to have the support of the Gosport community who are holding this brilliant festival.

'˜They've put a great deal of time and effort into organising this and they are so passionate about our work so we really hope it's a huge success. Their support will mean vulnerable pets have the vital treatment they need.'

For tickets go to gosportwaterfrontfestival.com