Piano maestro behind multi-charity fundraising event

The event, which the musician says will be more of a ‘community day’, will take place on October 25 and see two support acts take to the stage before Ben and his band play.

In a career that has spanned more than 20 years, Ben has played alongside Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, Shakin’ Stevens, Procul Harum, Mick Hucknall, Ray Davies and Jools Holland.

Local musicians and bands are encouraged to get in contact for a chance to support Ben at the event while five charities can still sign up to take part.

Ben said he was inspired to host the event after struggling to perform at all the charity gigs he was asked to.

He added: “I used to perform at every charity gig I could 15 years ago, but soon realised I was struggling to do that and pay my bills and living costs.

“Now, I get asked to do as many as 50 charity concerts a year so I had the idea of doing one special gala night combining all the charities together.

Weymouth Pavilion operator Phil Say said: “It’s fantastic for Ben to create an event that brings together so many good causes under one roof.

“We’re also looking for local painters and artists to display their work in an art exhibition in the ocean room from 11am that day – where a percentage of money raised by sales will also go to the same charities.”

Each charity or good cause will be given 50 tickets to sell at £20 each, essentially raising £1,000 on ticket sales alone.

There will be a total of 17 charities involved creating a total of 850 tickets.

There are 12 charities or good causes already confirmed for the event including Chesil Sailability, pancreatic cancer charity Pan Pals, the British Heart Foundation, Friends of the Puddletown Library, The Children’s Society, The Will Mackaness Trust and more.

Tickets are available from Weymouth Pavilion by calling 01305 783225.

Musicians looking to play at the concert are asked to call Ben or Ruth Waters on 07771 995042.