Following the success of Woo Fest, which made its debut last summer, the popular music event will return next month in aid of St Richard’s Hospice.
The festival, which will be held on Saturday 23rd July at The Drum and Monkey, near Upton-upon-Severn, will be suitable for all ages. The event will offer a variety of live music from 12 noon by bands such as The GTs, The White Feather Collective, The Flames, The Fidgets, Conner Maher Quartet and many more. A hog roast and bbq, kids’ play area with bouncy castle, arts and crafts, and other activities promise to keep the whole family entertained.
Luke Simons and his sister Ria Simons, from Northwick, decided to set up the music festival in memory of their father John Simons, a local engineer, who was cared for by the hospice before his illness and death in 2013 aged 66.
Luke, along with his family, friends and colleagues, has in previous years completed a number of fundraising challenges for St Richard’s Hospice including the 3 Peaks Challenge, Hadrian’s Wall and, in 2014, a ‘Source to Sauce’ challenge to walk, cycle and canoe 130 miles from the source of the River Severn to Worcester.
Mr Simons said; “The first Woo Fest was really well received and we had great feedback from all our customers and performers, so we didn’t really have any choice but to do it again! The interest so far has been amazing. Every single penny of the ticket price will go straight to St Richard’s Hospice thanks to all our musicians playing for free, supported by an incredible PA system and sound engineers, with sponsors picking up any unavoidable costs.
“My Dad spent the last few days of his life at St Richard’s Hospice. I think the main thing that the hospice allowed us to do was to come to terms with what was going to happen and for everyone to be at peace with it. The support once my dad passed away was also great with even the offer of counselling for as long as required. It is difficult to explain how much this all meant to us. Some of it may sound trivial, but throughout the darkest time we had dignity, comfort, fun and laughter.”
Tickets for the event cost £15 in advance (£20 on the door), children under 14 free of charge with an accompanying adult, with optional overnight camping available at £7.50 per person (pre-booked only). To find out more about the event and to book tickets visit our Woo Fest event page or follow Woo Fest on Facebook.