Charities chosen to benefit from this year's Lytham Festival

The festival returns for five nights of live music on Lytham Green from June 28 to July 2 and each year charities are invited to apply to be a partner.

This year, more charities than ever applied with 68 submissions, and those selected, with their corresponding concert night, are the Mary O’Gara Foundation (Jamiroquai June 28), Park View 4U (George Ezra June 29), Lytham Rotary (Sting June 30), Trinity Hospice (Lionel Richie July 1), North West Blood Bikes (Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe July 2)

For 2023, Lytham Festival has chosen to support relatively small North West-based charities which make a big impact in the communities they serve.

Two Lytham-based charities have been selected. Park View 4U provides a community recreational facility at the QEII Park View Playing Fields. It is one of the busiest parks on the Fylde coast and is 100 per cent reliant on grants and donations for running costs and facilities.

Lytham Rotary, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, continually identifies charities and communities in need international, nationally and locally and in the last 10 years has donated almost £200,000 to charities and organisations.

The Preston-based Mary O’Gara Foundation was set up in memory of 27-year-old Mary who took her own life and is dedicated to the prevention of suicide in young people by providing free training sessions to all schools, colleges and any other organisations working with young people to give them the skill set to spot and support someone in crisis.

Trinity Hospice is the local hospice for Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre and combined with Brian House Children’s Hospice it provides help and support for more than 8,000 local people each year.

North West Blood Bikes provide a free, voluntary service, out of normal working hours for the transportation of urgent and emergency items including blood, platelets and donor breast milk solely for the benefit of the emergency services and NHS hospitals.

The charities were chosen following an application process and those that have been selected will be given the opportunity to have a team of fundraisers on site at Lytham Festival collecting monetary donations.

Festival director Peter Taylor said: “Selecting the charity partners for this year’s Lytham Festival has been more difficult than ever before as we were inundated with applications. All were from incredible organisations that do so much for their chosen communities.

“We are delighted to reveal we have selected five charities that we believe have an impact both to our local Lytham community as well as the wider North West, and we encourage our festival audience to support them.

“Not only does this provide the charities with a great opportunity to raise much needed funds, it also puts them in front of an audience of tens of thousands of people so they can raise their profile.”

Julie Norman, Park Ranger and Education Manager at Park View 4U, said: "This is such a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness of our charity and all the ways we support our local community. Thank you to all the Lytham Festival music fans for their support, which will help us to raise much needed funds, so we can continue to maintain our community hub in the heart of Lytham."

Rotary Club of Lytham President Dr Philip Smith said: “We have been a local charity of 75 years and have donated almost £200,000 over the past 10 years to local communities and good causes in our efforts to support those less fortunate than ourselves. We will continue this work and the festival provides us with an excellent platform to further our causes.”

Paul and Sharon O’Gara, founders of Mary O’Gara Foundation, said: “Being chosen as an official partner at Lytham Festival will allow us to not only raise funds to continue our work, but also to spread Mary’s story and raise our profile with a diverse audience, up to 20 per cent of whom may be or may know somebody suffering suicidal thoughts and, thereby, actively able to benefit from our message and support offering.

“Preston has the highest suicide rate in Lancashire, while Blackpool the highest suicide rate in the Fylde. Raising awareness at Lytham Festival will penetrate deep into the communities hit hardest by the effects of suicide and provides a platform to speak directly to those who would benefit most.”

Trinity Hospice’s Community Fundraising Manager Michelle Lonican said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have been selected once again as a charity partner for Lytham Festival.

“Our Trinity colleagues and volunteers are already excited to be part of this fantastic event and the opportunity to meet people from across the region to let them know how they can support the very important work we do across the Fylde coast.”

Mick Steel, North West Blood Bikes Fylde Area Volunteer Rider, said: "North West Blood Bikes Lancs and Lakes, are humbled and grateful to be selected as one of the charity partners for Lytham Festival.

“As a 100 per cent volunteer organisation, our ability to support the NHS with our urgent and emergency out-of-hours service relies on public donations. The opportunity to be part of this year’s Lytham Festival experience will ensure our commitment in helping to save lives and support the NHS in providing patient care will continue."

An extended Lytham Festival in 2022 saw 10 charities benefit from a total of £22,549 and since its inception in 2010 charity partners at the festival have received more than £100,000 in donations.

Full details of this year’s Festival at www.lythamfestival.com