Written by Lucy Hill
Thank you so much for attending our Challengers 10th Annual Wood Street Jazz Festival on the beautifully sunny Sunday 21st July 2024!
Every penny raised from the day goes directly to Challengers, helping us continue to break down the barriers to play for local disabled children and their families and we are delighted to announce that our 10th Anniversary Wood Street Jazz Festival raised an amazing £23,130 for Challengers! This could fund over 900 amazing hours of play, fun and laughter at Challengers!
To open our fantastic festival the Somethin’ Else Big Band kicked off on the mainstage at 13:00.
The Nigel Price Organ Trio followed on the main stage, and we then tuned into the Carter Harris Quartet and 5 Spoons on the Acoustic Stage
During our interval we had an introduction to Challengers and how important our work is by our lovely CEO Gen Dearman, and then mum and parent ambassador Alison shared her story and her daughter Eleanor’s wonderful relationship with Challengers.
We then had our raffle drawn by Guildford Jazz’s Marianne and Challengers’ Becky – we sold a record breaking 440 tickets and had some incredible prizes. Thank you to all who donated and congratulations to the lucky winners!
Jivin’ Miss Daisy on the Main Stage rounded out the end of our 10th Anniversary Wood Street Jazz Festival.
We again welcomed Yameem Deedar, proprietor of the multi-award winning Tandoori restaurant the Shahin in Guildford to our Wood Street Jazz Festival for the fourth year! Deedar has been incredibly active in helping charities and other good causes over the last 30 years, and Deedar generously donated all the proceeds from the sales of his curry to Challengers.
We also had the wonderful Howe and Co Fish and Chips, and Mantio Ice Cream to cool things down in the long sought after summer sun! We also had our Challengers’ bar with beer, wine and Pimm’s. There was a bottle tombola for added entertainment, and some of our talented volunteers made some delicious cakes for us to sell!
We are so grateful to Challengers’ friends David & Pam Hypher, Ali & Steve Johnson and Belinda Baker of Wood Street Village and Marianne Windham and the Guildford Jazz Team, who have been spectacular in organising the event.
And of course, we would be remiss if we didn’t give a special shout out to all our wonderful volunteers and our amazing sponsors: Surrey County Council, Salt & Light, Rydes Hill School, Curchods, Worplesdon Parish Council and the Shahin Restaurant
Photos from the day have been uploaded on our Facebook album and can be accessed by clicking the link below!
Wood Street Jazz Festival 2024
