Kendal Calling festival has raised £12,000 for five long-standing charity partners – North West Air Ambulance Charity, Alder Hey Children’s Charity, Guide Dogs for the Blind, St John’s Ambulance and Hospice at Home.
Kendal Calling is proud to announce that the festival has raised £12,000 in donations, merchandise sales and ticket donations for the festival’s five charity partners, who have been forgotten and seriously impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic – North West Air Ambulance Charity, Alder Hey Children’s Charity, Guide Dogs for the Blind, St John’s Ambulance and Hospice at Home.
The fundraising total follows the huge success of Kendal Calling Radio from 30 July – 02 August 2020.
Kendal Calling Radio brought the festival experience to the home, featuring interviews, live sessions, DJ sets from the likes of Nile Rodgers, Primal Scream and 808 State, plus classic sets from 15 years of the festival, including Madness, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Franz Ferdinand and more. With over 50,000 listeners over four days, Kendal Calling Radio was accompanied by a limited edition range of merchandise including t-shirts and posters which sold out in a matter of days.
Festival founder Andy Smith: “The donations we receive for our festival charities every summer make a huge difference to the important work they do. When we realised that this year’s festival wasn’t going to take place, we knew how important it was to find an alternative way to raise money for these charities, and the Kendal Calling Radio weekend became a celebration of the selfless volunteers in the north who work tirelessly and with few resources. The money raised for our charities by the incredible Kendal Calling family is testament to how amazing our attendees are, and how much their hard work truly is recognised.”
The festival’s five charity partners – North West Air Ambulance Charity, Alder Hey Children’s Charity, Guide Dogs for the Blind, St John’s Ambulance and Hospice at Home – make up the Kendal Calling Family Foundation. With some of the charities’ fundraising events cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and funding drying up, the festival organisers set up the Kendal Calling Family Foundation to help these charities through an incredibly difficult period, with Kendal Calling Radio acting as a launch event for ongoing fundraising efforts. Following the success of Kendal Calling Radio, the current fundraising total has been split evenly between the five charities, with each charity receiving £2,400.
Since its inception Kendal Calling has raised over £200,000 for worthy causes.
Chris Andrews, Corporate Partnership Officer at North West Air Ambulance Charity: “Kendal Calling Radio was a brilliant weekend and we are so grateful to everyone who helped make it a success. The money raised is incredibly important to us. We attend over 2,000 missions across the North West each year and we’re entirely charity funded. We must raise over £9.5 million every year to continue our lifesaving service. To everyone who donated, we can’t thank you enough. You are helping us save lives.”
The Kendal Calling Family Foundation supports these charities so that they can continue their vital work, from the advanced pre-hospital care North West Air Ambulance Charity provide to critically ill and injured patients across the North West, through to Alder Hey Children’s Charity incredible support for young people in need, in particular their 7in10 Children’s Mental Health Appeal, which enables more children to access the mental health treatment they need at a sufficiently early age.
Kendal Calling festival returns to Lowther Deer Park, Cumbria – 29 July – 01 August 2021.
Weekend tickets are on sale now, with affordable payment plan options available at kendalcalling.co.uk
