Epilepsy awareness Charity Walk

We were contacted by the organisers of a charity walk which was to take place at Cannon Hill Park in Birmingham. The charity involved was 'epilepsy awareness' and their budget was a very modest one so we decided to offer our services free of charge. What they needed was a DJ with decks and two speakers along with a wireless microphone for announcements and the vocal artist that was due to perform later in the day.

A bandstand was available for us to use and fortunately so, as although it was sunny throughout it would rain towards the end of the event. A bandstand is a covered outdoor platform for bands to perform on, in this case a DJ. Circular in shape they are typically found in parks. I'd always seen them but had no idea what they were used for. Because it was in the middle of the park we had to decide how to power the equipment.

We considered two options, the first was to hire a generator however we calculated that we could achieve the power required by using a power inverter, a much more cost effective method. An inverter is essentially a 3 pin plug socket connected to your cars battery which you can connect any household item to. In this instance we plugged in an 8-way extension to power all the equipment.

While we were setting up, so too were several food vendors and charity related stands, Mr Whippy was also present. (Ice cream van : ) The walk was 5 km in total, people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities took part. They had been sponsored by individuals to complete the walk and all the money raised would go to the epilepsy awareness charity.

A host was on hand to welcome people, tell them about the event and to direct the participants. By now the music was playing, we started with a soulful selection, real summertime feel good music for everyone to enjoy. I think everyone finished in under an hour, some people 45 minutes. The turnout was great and the charity must have raised a good amount of money but it wasn't over yet. The singer was prepped and ready to go. I forget her name but she was signed to the same record label as Mark Morrison and let me tell you she had an awesome voice, very powerful with a great range. She sang about 5 or 6 songs, mainly covers, some ballads.

After she had performed we cranked up the music and people started jamming. I remember 'deep house' music being really big at the time with the likes of Duke Dumont, Clean Bandit and Gorgon City topping the UK charts. It was around this time it started to rain and many people jumped onto the bandstand to take cover. This however did nothing to dampen the mood as many remained and partied into the evening. All in all a wonderful event for a great cause.