Music in the Meadow - we're getting there!

For the past three years Mike and I have hosted a live pop concert in the grounds of our home to raise funds for Steps Conductive Education Centre, Matt Hampson - the under-21s England Rugby player who broke his neck in training in 2005, and the church and village hall where we live in Ashby Folville in Leicestershire. This year the event is being held on Bank Holiday Saturday, 28th August. Every pound taken for the event goes to the charities and the proceeds are distributed 70% to Steps, 20% to Matt and 10% is divided between the village hall and the church. In the last three years we have raised over £70,000 from this event which offers a fun night out listening to live bands in glorious surroundings plus a mega raffle which boasts 10 holidays/breaks to be won!

We are very fortunate to live in such an idyllic village which is surrounded by magnificent mature trees, has a cricket field, a beautiful pub – the Carington Arms, a church, and that’s it! On Music in the Meadow night the villagers help to steward the event and everyone has a fantastic time. Folk come from far and wide and bring along their gazebos, picnics and chairs or they sit on bales of straw. The stage looks magnificent against the backdrop of such a lovely piece of Leicestershire which nestles in a valley just below Melton Mowbray.

The event attracts about 500 – 1000 music-lovers who thoroughly enjoy themselves as well as buy raffle tickets galore as the prizes are so amazing plus we have a tombola which boasts a phenomenal number of outstanding gifts that have been donated from local firms. The tombola will include hundreds of prizes including vouchers for meals out, days out, hampers, cosmetics, gifts, pictures, flowers – you name it, it’s on there! On Saturday I was even given a diamond pendant by Goldsmiths in Leicester for the event which we are going to raffle separately on the night along with a stunning watch which has been donated by another jeweller, Lumbers, and Fenwicks have given us six Royal Doulton wine glasses ..and there’s so much more.

We serve Pimms and we will be dancing the night away until gone midnight. Personally we will have a house full of guests which I adore. There will be camp-beds for the children snuggled into various corners and every one of our bedrooms will be fully occupied and our bathrooms will be working flat out.

On the Friday I will be cooking bacon sandwiches for Mike and the workers who are setting up the marquees, staging, lighting, toilets and so on. Incredibly, all of these facilities are given to us free of charge which is how we can give every penny we receive to the charities. Companies like Raynsway and Owen Brown are phenomenally generous.

Then of course there are the bands who give their time and energy for free. The lead act, the Don Watson Band, fly in specially for the event from Colorado, USA. They are an extraordinarily gifted band who play requests from the audience throughout and I have yet to find a song that they don’t know or cannot play. They are outstandingly talented. The support acts are local bands Rock Bottom and Hopwood Junction plus we have a brilliant guitarist/singer David Wyatt who opens proceedings at 6 pm.

Check out the website www.musicinthemeadow.co.uk to see some of the pictures from last year and details of this year’s event. It really is a fantastic night out so if you don’t know what to do with yourself on bank holiday Saturday, why not pop along?

For tickets for the event or raffle tickets, please call Gaynor Cawood on 01509 622022.