Weymouth drummer's fundraising gig raises £10k for charity (From Thisisdorset)

Weymouth drummer's fundraising gig raises £10k for charity

11:00am Wednesday 10th February 2010

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A WEYMOUTH musician suffering from an incurable illness raised a glass to everybody who helped make his fundraising gig a success.

Spencer Bates, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease last September, hoped to raise £6,000 for the West Dorset branch of the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) with the recent Spenstock gig at Weymouth Pavilion.

The show, in which Spencer, 48, drummed for several bands, was such a success it looks set to raise over £10,000 for MNDA and will be repeated later in the year.

Five hundred people from as far afield as Weston-super-Mare and Oxford travelled to Weymouth for the sell-out gig, which included an auction of signed sporting goods.

Among the items auctioned off were VIP tickets to the filming of Deal Or No Deal, signed Premiership football shirts and a pair of boxing gloves autographed by Henry Cooper.

Despite his illness, Spencer drummed for several bands at the gig including Balance of Power, Blow, Blue Sin and Tina Turner tribute act The Best.

Spencer’s mother Mary, who helped organise the show, said it was a ‘great event’. She added: “We had already banked almost £6,000 through ticket sales and donations before the night. By the time we do a final count we should have made over £10,000 for the MNDA.

“Everybody who was there said they had never felt an atmosphere like it at a gig before.

“At least half of the people in the room had been touched by motor neurone disease in one way or another, through friends, relatives and neighbours. You don’t tend to hear about it a lot though for some reason.”

The second Spenstock gig is set to take place at Weymouth Pavilion again on Friday, April 16, and tickets will go on sale in early March.

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