‘Our music festival
raised the roof’ Ambitious plans for the fun-filled day paid off with a £13,000 profit!
putting on a successful music festival in the grounds of our school. As the crowds gathered at Worthy Farm, site manager Ken Till and the PTA were thrilled to look out on our own version of Glastonbury. Ken’s been in a band since he was
W
13 and loves music and the vibes it can create in a community. His vision was to use the school facilities to put on a festival that incorporated a summer fair. We’re a relatively small school, but we have a huge site. After getting approval from our headteacher and governors, the rest of the PTA got involved. We formed two groups: Ken took charge of making sure the site was safe and functional, with electricity accessible where it was needed. He built an amazing stage with
the help of the husband of one of the teaching assistants, and he booked
30 SUMMER 2025 School Fundraising
e don’t have a Pyramid Stage or acres of Somerset farmland but that didn’t stop us from
all the music. He was also our MC. Meanwhile, Sally, Nancy and I coordinated the traditional summer fair elements. It was an event of two halves: the summer fair games and barbecue took place until 5pm, with the bar, food vans and music continuing until 9pm.
Prepare for the worst We wrote contingency plans for
some worst-case scenarios: with the bar running for nine hours, how would we handle it if people drank too much? Would we need security at the gate? Thankfully, those things didn’t happen, but it was reassuring to know we had prepared. Some 80 people volunteered
on the day – not just parents but also staff, governors and even the local gardening club. We made sure parents were paired with their friends and were allocated to an area that best suited their personalities, so everyone could have a good time.
We allocated each of our 12 PTA
committee members their own area to manage and gave them a clear idea of what we wanted them to achieve. Within those parameters, we let them do what they wanted. People appreciated having the freedom to be creative and they went to the next level. Our bar, for example, run by Lauren and Katie, was epic. It was huge, brightly decorated and stocked with every kind of booze you could possibly think of.
Plan ahead We began our promotional campaign
three months beforehand. It included leaflet drops, banners, social media and a spot in our local magazine. After a discount from the printer because of our charity status, our total spend was under £400.
AS TOLD TO ZENA ALLI. IMAGES: GEMMA JANE PHOTOGRAPHY
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