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Community festival Groove de Lecq raised £25,000 for local charities, the National Trust and Acorn Entreprises, in what the organisers describe as "the biggest groove to date."
Over 3,500 people of all ages flocked to Greve de Lecq last weekend to enjoy over 10 hours of entertainment provided by local artists and musicians.
This year’s event set out to build upon its reputation as the Island’s most ethical & creative festival, offering a vision that nurtures young talent whilst preserving local heritage. The line up included 70 home-grown talents who performed across eight stages. Local producers and merchants also joined the celebrations with over 20 of them offering food and refreshments to the festival goers.
The festival also saw 14 local charities offer their time to attend and host activities and workshops throughout the day. They included a Durrell Can Crush, fancy dress with Autism Jersey, a game of Dodgeball and Human Hungry Hippos with BHF Jersey. Peas & Glove, Donna Annand, Les Amis and Brighter Futures Kids Zone where also in attendance while Barnardo's looked after the Welfare Tent and Mencap Taking Part made art. Further to the £25,000 raised for its chosen charities, the Groove Collective have distributed £2,000, with an additional £2,500 collected on the day by individual charities.
The money raised by Groove for the National Trust for Jersey will go towards its coastline campaign and its pledge to work with landowners and benefactors to permanently safeguard a further 1,000 vergees of unspoilt coastline over the next twenty years. Charles Alluto, Chief Executive of the Trust said: “As a result of the money raised, we will be able to purchase at least one or two vergées of coastal land. We know there is an overwhelming public desire to see our coastline protected so that it can be enjoyed by future generations. Jersey’s coastline is inherent to our culture, heritage, sense of identity and wellbeing – and it is fantastic that such a large sum of money has been raised to help us achieve this aim. On behalf of everyone at NTJ can I wholeheartedly thank everyone who helped to make Groove such a great success for our campaign”.
VIDEO: Groove Collective's roundup of their festival which raised £25,000 for charity.
Beth Gallichan, founder of the Festival and member of the Groove Collective, said: “We are delighted to have had extraordinary praise from those who attended and were part Groove de Lecq on Saturday. As an event we are quite unique in our refusal to be commercial and we now have more independence to provide substantial donations to charity through our own not for profit organization, Groove Collective.
"As an organisation we are committed to supporting our community by promoting local charitable causes, musicians and artists alongside reducing waste and endorsing green initiatives. With such a positive response we are excited to be considering planning further events and initiatives applying the same principles through the Groove Collective.”
Whilst long-standing stages such as the iQ Main Stage, Reggae Beach Party & Woodland Stage maintained their popularity, this year’s Wonderland benefitted from a new organic stage and decorative revamp thanks to the support of Acorn Enterprises. With the purpose of Reclaiming, Reusing and Recycling unwanted items, Wonderland boasted "...some of the most creative and quirky decorations and props handmade and crafted by the charities’ volunteers." The Wonderland Stage line-up was collated by Element Arts, with a fantastic show of breakdancing, mermaids and disco dancing - keeping all ages entertained.
VIDEO: Wonderland co-organiser Lucy Abraham's montage of the festival's Element Arts line-up on their recycled, organic stage.
This year, Groove also took on what some thought was an ambitious leap of expanding the festival grounds with the help of the National Trust. The new ‘Jersey Utopia’, which was open to the general public without charge was situated at the Greve De Lecq Barracks and specifically designed to profile the sheer breadth of quality local produce and entertainment in the island. Performances from a line-up curated by the Jersey Songwriter’s Society showcased Jersey’s freshest talent, whilst interactive eco workshops, demonstrations and games-rooms were flush with festival goers exploring the new Groove arena.
As Jersey’s "longest standing, biggest feel-good festival", Groove requires thousands of voluntary hours, year-round planning and island collaboration to produce a real celebration of local talent and creative culture in a strategic movement to support and better our local community. Launched in 2010, it raised over £180,000 for local charitable causes and helped promote local talent.
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