A dedicated group of musicians who have played with the likes of Lindisfarne, Sting, Matt Monro and The Who to name just a few big name stars, are continuing to share their talents free of charge, to raise funds for Trinity Holistic Centre.
The guitarists, pianists, singers and other musicians travel from as far afield as Norwich, Manchester and Northumberland to form the Fabulosa Band and put on a concert to raise thousands for Trinity Holistic Centre.
What’s more, the musicians happily do it for free and don’t even ask for travel expenses, so that every penny that is raised from the events goes to the centre.
How it all started
Ottie McLoughlin, who organises the events alongside long-time friend Linda Zivanaris jokes that the idea for the events came about because he was fed up of only seeing some of his musician friends at funerals!
As a result, he decided to throw a party where everybody enjoyed coming along and jamming together.
That sparked the idea of doing a regular concert for charity and Linda had learned how fantastic Trinity Holistic Centre was from a friend who was having treatment there.
She said: “When we were deciding what charity to support, we were really mindful of it being local, as we have a lot of local musicians involved and we also wanted it to raise funds for something people could relate to.
“We came down to see the place for ourselves and found it to be absolutely fabulous.
“There are so many friendly volunteers and it doesn’t get a lot of funding, so this was a chance to do something that would make a difference to a lot of people locally.”
Ottie added: “We have more than 30 musicians who love the events and come down and do it all for free – it’s a social thing for them.
“They all have the chance to meet each other again when they haven’t seen each other for a while.
“It’s great value as well for the people who come to see the concert because of the high calibre of musicians who are all really established and have played with all the big names.”
As well as transforming whatever venue they play into a “little nightclub” Linda also organises raffles at the events.
It just gets bigger and bigger
Ottie says: “It’s just got bigger and bigger over the years.
“Next year, it will be even bigger and it’s all thanks to the generosity of the musicians who give their time and cover their own expenses – we provide them with nothing other than a stage!”
For more information or to get in touch about next year’s event, email Linda at [email protected]