EVENTS – Public events
GOING PUBLIC
Holding events that appeal to the wider public, as well as your school community, can signifi cantly increase your profi ts. Three PTAs tell us how they’ve managed to pull in the crowds
‘We launched a music festival on Penny Lane’
Leigh-Angel Bevan is chair of Dovedale Primary School PTA in Liverpool (840 pupils)
became PTA chair I thought we should tap into that. I’ve always worked in live music and events, so it just seemed like a natural thing to upgrade the school fair and turn it into a music festival. We rebranded as ‘Dovefest’ and set up in the school sports fi eld. Luckily the fi eld is separate from the school, which I think helps. I’m sure a lot of people have no idea the festival is run by a PTA. We have all the normal school
W
fair things like food stalls, games stalls and infl atables, but then we have a bar and a proper stage with bands, choirs and dance troupes performing – a mix of amateur and professional. Last year one of the highlights was Clark Gilmour, a Beatles fanatic who performs at
e’re John Lennon and George Harrison’s old school, and when I
The Cavern Club and is one of the organisers of International Beatleweek. We’re really lucky to have some super talented parents at our school as well – one of the dads is a John Lennon impersonator, and a group of parents who did the music for the school panto have now formed a professional covers band. We also have community
groups coming in to run free workshops on things like capoeira, African drumming, circus skills and puppetry, which draws people in and gives it more of a party atmosphere. I do quite a big marketing
campaign for the festival on social media and put posters up in all the busiest local shops at least six weeks in advance. Last year more than 3,000 people came, some of them from across the water in the Wirral. We made £13,000, which is amazing. I think it being a free festival
helps, as of course does being on the famous Penny Lane.
I’m sure a lot of people have no idea the festival is run by a PTA
School Fundraising SPRING 2026 31
AS TOLD TO NUALA CALVI. IMAGES: PHIL DALEY
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