A charity gig, bringing Weymouth bands from the 60s and 70s back together, raised over £2,400 for Weldmar. 

'The Boys Are Back in Town: A Reunion of Weymouth bands from the 60s and 70s', brought bands from the golden age of music back together at the Centenary Club last month. 

Organiser and musician Simon Breakspear said: “It was a one in a million evening. It went so well and all the bands played really well. The venue was full up from six o’clock until the end.”

The idea was born from nostalgic conversations between old friends Simon, Chris Dean and Phil McDonnell and the gig sold out long before the event date with more than 300 tickets sold.

On the bill was popular bands from the late 50s to early 80s, Blind Harvest, Crescendoes, Violin Shoppe/Abacus, Package Deal, Conquerors/Crystal Ship and Brahms & Liszt. 

Thanks to the gig’s success Simon said he and his fellow organisers are already talking about making the reunion an annual event.

“I can honestly say it was a total success. We’ll be doing it again next year because it went so well,” he said. 

Simon added they had also looked at the possibility of doing smaller gigs throughout the year. 

“It was so full that not everyone could see all the time, it’s what made the atmosphere but we’re talking about in the future having a couple less bands and doing two or three through the year,” he said. 

As well as allowing Weymouth residents to revisit their youth, the evening raised more than £2,400 for Weldmar Hospicecare. 

Weldmar provides end of life care for people living in Dorset, offering specialist support to patients and their families, both medically and through counselling, in the community, in their hospice and at home.

All the care they provide is free and reliant on public donations.

“We raised £750 from the raffle and £180 was from donations on the night and the rest was from tickets. After all the expenses we still had just over £2,400 which we handed it over to Weldmar last week,” said Simon. 

Simon said hearing people’s positive stories or how the hospice had helped their loved ones was what ‘it was all about’. 

“We’ve had people contact us on Facebook saying, my mother or brother was cared for by Weldmar and what a fantastic job they did. Even one of the guys in the bands used Weldmar so that’s what it’s all about. Everyone’s pleased,” he said.