York BID say this year’s Live for St Leonard’s has broken all its previous records, raising a whopping £5,177.97 for St Leonard’s Hospice!

Nine nights of live music attracted crowds to come and enjoy the York Food & Drink Festival into the early evening and encouraged donations.

This year’s line-up included 5K - The North's Premier Pop Punk Party Band, Nalgo Bay, Flatcap Carnival, Harrison Rimmer Band, The Living Young, Jess Gardham, Bang Bang Bang, Tri-Starrs and many more.

They performed for free on two separate stage areas with performances running in parallel. The main stage was in the marquee on Parliament Street, and the acoustic stage on St Sampsons Square.

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During the three years since the event began, Live for St Leonard’s has raised nearly £14,000 for this highly regarded local charity.

YorkBID says the achievement is testament to the efforts of several organisations working in partnership.

York Food & Drinks Festival provided the space and facilities for the event to take place; York BID organised and managed the programme of live music entertainment; YO1 Radio presenters gave their time to compere the shows and help spread the word, and St Leonard’s Hospice provided a team of volunteers to collect and record the donations.

Sarah Atkinson, Events and Community Manager at St Leonard’s Hospice, said: “We’re delighted that York Food & Drink Festival and York BID chose to support St Leonard’s again this year, and what an amazing amount raised.

“Our unrivalled care is only possible due the support of our community so we’re incredibly grateful to everyone involved in making this brilliant event happen, and to all who came along to soak up the atmosphere, listen to some great live music and support the Hospice.”

Michael Hjort, Director of York Food & Drink Festival said: “It has been a pleasure to host Live For St Leonard’s for its third year running. The initiative has proven its value to the local community and I commend the fundraising total achieved by partners. The Festival will be very pleased to see it return for subsequent years”.

Chris Bush, Business Manager at York BID said: “The stars of the show are the many local musicians who delivered fantastic entertainment, night after night. All of the 9 shows were extremely enjoyable, and it was great to see everyone working together for this worthy cause. We’re thrilled to have broken the fundraising records set during the last two years.”

The York Food & Drink Festival runs events throughout the year celebrating local and regional food and drink, with the main 10-day festival beginning on Friday September 22 and ending on Sunday October 1.

It is a not-for-profit organisation and any money generated from ticket sales goes back into the festival to improve it year after year.

If you want to add to that amount, simply visit: https://stleonardshospice.org.uk/fundraising/live-for-st-leonards-2023/