Shrewsbury Oxjam festival hits right note as crowds flock to events

Musicians played in shop windows, on trains and on platforms at the railway station as part of the town's first Oxjam festival.

Music was played from noon on Saturday until 2am at six music venues in a bid to raise thousands of pounds for Oxfam.

The Depth Jazz band played a free gig in the Oxfam shop window in High Street and train passengers were serenaded by Ollie Bond at Shrewsbury station and Ollie Flavell on trains between Shrewsbury and Crewe.

Kathrynne Johnson, a spokeswoman for Oxjam, said: "It went really well. We got more people than we expected.

"We've definitely made our £2,500 target. We haven't counted the money yet but just in online ticket sales we've raised about £4,000 and probably closer to £5,000, so we're very pleased with that."

The organising team had worked with the venues – Henry Tudor House, Shrewsbury Coffeehouse, the Old Post Office, The Hive, The Vaults and The Alb – to publicise the event, but said they were still surprised at how many people had turned out.

She said: "The whole town got behind the festival. We didn't expect it to go as well as it did.

"Considering it's our first year and we had to get people interested and tell them what it was all about, it's been brilliant.

"At the end of the night at the Old Post Office it ended up being one in one out as we had maximum capacity, and the Coffeehouse was completely packed out as well."

A spokesman for the Coffeehouse said: "It was a great night with a lovely selection of local talent and for such a good cause."

Singer Sophie Scott was one of the artists who performed at the Coffeehouse during the day.

After the gig she tweeted: "Had a great time today doing two gigs for @OxjamShrewsbury ... amazing crowds of people & brilliantly organised."

Staff at Henry Tudor House said they were delighted with the number of people and the quality of the music at the venue.

"All the acts in Henry Tudor House were very popular and the staff were very keen to help," Kathrynne said.

"They finished at about 6pm this year, but they said they wanted to go on later and they'll want to take part again next year and stay open longer."

There were other events taking place as part of the festival as well as the music and DJs.

Shrewsbury Film Society supported the event by showing Martin Scorcese rock film The Last Waltz during the evening in The Hive.

And hundreds of people yesterday attended a family-friendly feast of world music, food and dance classes to help raise money for African refugees.

Martin Monahan, owner of The Buttermarket, which hosted the Africa Calling event, said it was a very successful event.

"It was a great evening. We had quite a number of families and that's gone down really well," he said.

The event was being held for the second time this year after originally being organised last summer in response to the crisis unfolding in West Africa as hundreds of thousands of refugees fled the conflict in Mali.

Singer-songwriter Lorraine Lionheart, who is originally from the Kalahari Desert in Botswana but now instructs martial arts in Shrewsbury at her Gym Body Plus in Monkmoor, was one of the performers on the day.

Organiser Wren Miller, founder of the local charity Send a Book to Mali, said: "From the outset Lorraine Lionheart has been 100 per cent supportive.

"She has collected over 1,000 children's books for us and now wants to help us raise money to send them.

"Books are like gold dust in Mali, where 75 per cent of the population cannot read or write.

"Better resources and education can really improve a person's future and chances to beat poverty."

* Having begun life in 2006, Oxjam has now seen over 1 million people attend a gig, helping raise over £2 million towards vital humanitarian work. Visit Oxfam's donation page to find out more.