Take a walk up Shrewsbury’s Pride Hill this weekend and don’t be surprised if you see a few famous faces among the regular buskers.

Sir Cliff, Sir Macca, Sir Tom, Sir Elton, and (not Sir) Phil Collins – they’ve all been hit hard by the credit crunch.

Apparently, some of our biggest stars have lost up to a quarter of their personal wealth this past year thanks to falling share prices and the plummeting property market.

Sir Cliff? Down to his last £40 million, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

Macca? The notoriously “careful” star would probably be glad of a few veggie sausage food parcels after losing a staggering £60m from his personal fortune.

Sir Tom? With only £130 million left in the bank it’s no wonder his hair’s gone white.

And Phil Collins? Oh, who cares about Phil Collins.

Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, this is getting serious and it’s time for us to step in and help.

I am this very day establishing a new charity to keep our recording heroes in the style to which they have become accustomed.

Just send in your donations, however large, to the Internet Desk at the Shropshire Star.

I promise to pass on your kind offerings to the pop star of your choice. (Probably. To be honest it depends on how much I make.)

The alternative – our heroes struggling to top-up their pension funds with a glut of live albums and greatest hits collections (Rod Stewart hasn’t released one of those for at least a fortnight) – simply doesn’t bear thinking about.

• For the latest credit crunch news reports and all the county business headlines, see today’s Shropshire Star.