TICKETS are now on sale for a new music festival which is being held in memory of a Westbury teenager who died at the age of 19 in a tragic accident ten years ago.
‘Rickfest’ will take place at Greenhill Fields in Southwick from Friday 29th June to Saturday 30th June, and will raise money for the Rainbow Trust. The festival is organised by Westbury couple Jayne Abbott and her husband Phillip, who decided to stage the event in memory of Jayne’s son, Rick, who died at the age of 19 after being involved in a tragic accident 10 years ago. Jayne, who has no prior experience of organising festivals said, “It’s definitely been a learning curve; every time we sorted something for the festival, we faced a different problem. Everything seems to be falling into place now, though, and we are set for a massive festival which we hope will put Wiltshire on the music scene map!”Jayne has also recruited some specialist help from Stuart Witcombe who works as a production manager on one of the stages at the Glastonbury Festival. Jayne called Stuart out of the blue and he agreed to help her immediately, even meeting her on site on the same day. Since then, Stuart’s help has included enlisting help from as many experts from Glastonbury Festival as he can.All the money raised from the festival will be going to the Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity which supports families of children with a life-threatening or terminal illness. Jayne is a family support worker for the Rainbow Trust and knows how important the money raised from events like this are to the charity. “I help support families in the Wiltshire area and I definitely see the difference our support makes to these families facing the unimaginable pain that their child is seriously ill and may not survive,” she explained.Headline acts will be announced at a later date, but acts already confirmed include ‘The Penny Red’, ‘Terhi’ and ‘Acoustic Junkies’. Jayne hopes 2,500 tickets will be sold for the event.For a list of bands, more information, or to buy tickets visit www.rickfest.org
