A 24-hour Bikeathon has got the fundraising drive for the 2019 GlastonBeoley Music Festival off to a superb start.
Nearly £3,000 was raised by the effort held at the Beoley Village Inn.
During the event volunteers kept the wheels spinning throughout, backed by live music until 12midnight on the Saturday and an open mic evening on Sunday from 4pm to 8pm.
“It was an incredible effort, we had a palm reader, Papa Rafiqi, who gave all his takings to the cause while I did foot massages, and we had one of our legendary raffles too,” said Debbie Joynes from the organising committee.
This year’s festival raised more than £10,000 for Deafblind UK and the Mental Health Foundation and Debbie admitted such a large sum helped motivate the team to run the event for a second successive year.
“Handing over a a cheque for such a large sum of money felt so good, and the day itself was amazing – hard work, but magical – and after the dust had settled as a committee we thought we’ve got to do it again,” she said.
Next year’s event will back three local charities: Charlotte and Craig’s Saving Hearts Foundation, Redditch Nightstop, Inspire Redditch, and national good cause the Sophie Lancaster Foundation which combats hate crime.
GlastonBeoley 2019 will be run along similar lines as this year’s with the possible addition of a ‘stand-up’ tent for budding comedians.
“After such a successful first year we are pleased to be supporting GlastonBeoley again to raise lots of money for local charities,” said Beoley Village Inn landlady Liz Agar.
The next fundraising event is a music quiz with live music at Beoley village hall on Saturday, October 13 at 7.30pm. All welcome.
Anyone who would like to help sponsor the 2019 festival can contact Debbie on 07833 205463 or visit https://glastonbeoley.co.uk/
