Shrewsbury's Big Busk gearing up to be the biggest yet

And now the organisers of The Big Busk, which was set up in memory of Ben Bebbington, have secured more than 50 acts to perform at this year's event.

Now in its fifth year, the festival will return to Shrewsbury's town centre to raise money for the drop-in centre where Ben spent some of his time.

The theme for this year's event, which takes place on April 1, will focus on how mental well-being can be supported and enhanced through music and performance.

Emotional support is central to the services provided by Shrewsbury Ark.

Ben himself was a talented musician, poet, and artist, who would regularly be found at The Ark finding solace in his music and poetry.

Last year's free street musical festival raised more than £10,000 for the charity, which helps homeless and vulnerable people in the town. This year as well as musicians busking on the street there will be dancers, choirs and workshops.

Since Ben died four years ago, the festival, organised by his sisters Karen Higgins and Annie Hambley, has been held on the weekend closest to his birthday.

Karen said: "We are over the moon to have signed up so many musicians so far. To have 50 at this stage is fantastic and we know we will still get some applying to play.

"I am really proud to say that if the festival was held this weekend we would be ready.

"But it is not just buskers and musicians that we have lined up. We have a few ukulele bands taking part and they always go down really well. We have the Got to Sing choir, Taiko Drummers and lots of fab individual acts including storytellers and Morris dancing as well as a professional opera singer who will be leading a workshop. There will also be drop-in workshops at Claremont Baptist Church where kids can come along and have a go at playing musical instruments.

"We will also be welcoming Martin Stephenson, a singer from the north east who is a frontman with The Daintees, which are a British rock/folk/pop band.

"It's incredible to think that it will be the fifth Big Busk. This is down to the wonderful musicians and acts who give their considerable talent for free, the wonderful venues which support us and our incredible army of volunteers who organise the event and help out on the day."

Spreadsheets and an attention to detail ensure the smooth running of the festival which Karen draws up with the help of friend Karen Paterson.

"We are both a bit OCD about the whole thing," she said, "the acts all play between two and three slots each so we have up to 150 slots to organise. It is just about sticking to the spreadsheets rigidly." Karen hopes that this year's festival will be as big as that of previous years, but is hesitant to say better.

She said: "The festivals over the last four years have been wonderful so we don't necessarily want it to be better because they would be very difficult to improve on. But we know we are on target to be bigger. We are hoping that the sun will shine on us this year but even if it doesn't the shopping centres have said we can use their space which will make a difference." Last year's total fundraising figure was boosted by two marathon efforts from musicians who played for more than 24-hours non-stop.

Guitar Cubed – teenagers Louis Briggs and Tom Barras – raised £4,000 when they set a new record for the world's longest busk by playing for more than 25 hours straight.

Singer and songwriter Paul Henshaw also raised more than £1,200 by playing 24 gigs in 24 hours.

"We haven't got anything like that planned – yet," said Karen, "and they did raise a phenomenal amount but we hope to raise a good amount of money for the Ark this year."

All money raised from the festival goes to the Ark as local businesses pay for the festival overheads.

"This year we have set up an online donations page so that those who want to give money but can't attend on the day will have the chance to do so."

Anyone wanting to donate should go to https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/big-busk