AN all-day music festival is set to bring 12 hours of live entertainment to the borough in aid of the Oldham Foodbank.

Oldham Rocks the Food Bank will see a star-studded line-up take to the stage at Whittles on Roscoe Street in the heart of the town centre.

The gig aims to raise £3,500 for the food bank, which is currently feeding around 1,000 people a month and has seen a surge in demand since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The legendary Tony Auton Band is one of the 11acts set to perform at the music extravaganza that will run from 2pm on Saturday, November 6 until late.

The Oldham Times:

Members of the Tony Auton Band. 

Oldham band The Recreation are set to bring brooding rhythms and stadium-ready choruses to the gig, while The Parcel of Rogues’ will play songs by The Pogues as well as traditional Irish tunes bound to get everyone dancing.

The Oldham Times:

The Parcel of Rogues.

Other bands set to feature include The Juice, The Micradotts,Rubber Orange, Last Race Home, The Maitlands, King Cotton11, Lazybones and Harry Lavin.

The event will finish with a rollicking Rude DJ after party.

A range of music genres will be represented on the day from indie and blues rock to Celtic folk rock and ska.

The gig, which was originally planned for September 2020 but had to be postponed due to the pandemic, has been organised by Royton residents Mick Harwood, Paul Chadwick and Rick Parker.

Mick volunteered at Oldham Foodbank while on furlough and used to organise an Oldham Rocks night to showcase talent in the borough.

The event is being hosted by Whittles for free and has received sponsorship from NB Dog Training, Cherwell Productions and The Electricians.

The sound engineers and technicians are not charging for their services and all the bands are playing for free.

Mick said: “I am overwhelmed by the generosity of fellow Oldhamers but not all surprised. This is a real joint effort by Oldham’s music scene, who all feel that they have to do their bit to help food bank users through what is going to be a very difficult winter.

“We will be rammed on the day, and we hope to raise a lot of money, probably just at the right time.”

Tickets are £10 and available to buy on the door and on eventbrite.