More than £10,000 has been raised for five charities thanks to the generosity of music fans attending Cardiff’s Blackweir concerts this summer.
More than 160,000 fans attended five nights of live music at Blackweir, with shows headlined by The Cure, Teddy Swims, Lewis Capaldi and Pitbull.
The concerts also provided a fundraising platform for five South Wales charities, with bigmoose, Cancer Research Wales, City Hospice, 2wish and Cardiff Dogs Home raising a combined £10,864.
Bereavement charity 2wish raised the largest amount at £3,760, followed by City Hospice with £2,462.85 and Cardiff Dogs Home with £2,440.15.
Cancer Research Wales collected £1,440, while bigmoose raised £760.
Launched last year, Blackweir is Cardiff’s new live music venue, created through a partnership between DEPOT Live, the live-events arm of Cardiff music venue DEPOT, and UK promoters Cuffe and Taylor.
Nick Saunders, founder of DEPOT Live said: “It was great to welcome five incredible South Wales charities to Blackweir this summer. Not only did this present them with an opportunity to raise funds, but it is also an opportunity to raise their profiles to people who may not be familiar with their work and when you have tens of thousands of people at each concert that is a lot of people learning about your charity.”
Mental health charity bigmoose kicked off the fundraising during the opening night of Blackweir with The Cure.
Events manager Sara Hobday said: “We were thrilled to be invited to join the Blackweir team for such an iconic night with The Cure. It was an incredible opportunity to connect with thousands of people in the heart of Cardiff and celebrate the power of music, community and collaboration.”
Cancer Research Wales collected donations during Teddy Swims’ headline show.
Fundraising manager Carys Jenkins said: “Cancer Research Wales were delighted to be involved in the Blackweir line-up as it’s a wonderful opportunity to promote the charity to such a large audience, to raise funds from generous concert goers and to give our loyal volunteers the chance to attend a great evening of live music.
“We’re celebrating 60 years of funding pioneering cancer research here in Wales and that’s all possible through fantastic support like this. Thank you!”
City Hospice brought volunteers to collect donations during the first of Lewis Capaldi’s two concerts.
Senior Community Fundraiser Katie Vaughan said: “We were incredibly proud to be the charity partner for Lewis Capaldi’s sold out show at Blackweir. It was an amazing opportunity for us to raise awareness about City Hospice whilst raising essential funds for Cardiff’s local hospice, which will go a long way in supporting the people of Cardiff when they need us most.”
The second Lewis Capaldi show saw volunteers from bereavement charity 2wish collecting donations.
Partnerships manager Jim Emmott said: “A massive thank you to Blackweir for supporting 2wish. The money raised, generous ticket donations and access for our team of volunteers made it a very special day.
“It was a brilliant chance to bring everyone together, start important conversations, raise awareness and help ensure that those affected by the sudden loss of a young person get the support they deserve.”
Cardiff Dogs Home’s The Rescue Hotel collected donations on the closing night of Blackweir, headlined by Pitbull.
Co-founder Toria Acreman said: “We’re so grateful to Blackweir for the opportunity to be part of such an incredible event and spread the word that rescue dogs rock! Every penny raised will help us make sure that dogs who arrive neglected, scared or in ill health can leave happier, healthier and ready for the forever home they deserve.”
