In 1983, Bob Geldof sat at home watching shocking TV news footage about the famine crisis in Ethiopia, the shock of these horrific images was followed by a sense of injustice that this widely broadcast humanitarian crisis wasn’t an area of focus for the political interests and foreign policies of western governments. He contacted Midge Ure and together they penned ‘do they know it’s Christmas’.

Turning this idea into an action quickly secured the participation of influential music artists with a sizeable audience and fanbase. This built awareness, that awareness then raised money and also applied pressure to governments to have to address the issue.

This was followed by simultaneous concerts, broadcast around the world to an audience of millions. They hugely exceeded their fundraising expectations and made a difference to hundreds of thousands of lives, in fact – they saved them. And so, this marked the start of a movement that continues to raise millions of pounds in international aid for several 3rd world countries….and ensure that western governments and other charities do the same.

Now, nearly 40 years later, although their legacy lives on in the lives they have changed, sadly, poverty and economic issues still continue to exist, with many of them a little closer to home, on our doorsteps, within our local communities. Using their example as a template, and with the blessing of the Band Aid Foundation, in November 2023 local musicians James ‘Stretch’ Williams, Ross Barrett and local community radio managing director Ben Tuffin…set up Love Aid UK then rallied together a network of leading local unsigned musicians in North Hampshire….and enrolled the services of other creative talents like Louis Sellers at Golden Wave recording studio and James Faulkner, a local photographer and film maker.

Their collective aim, to crowd fund and raise money for charity’s and initiatives within their local community that focus on child welfare through the Just Giving platform. We aim to set a cap at £10,000 per charity if we exceed our crowd funding initial target of £10k.

We also hope this sets a precedent to inspire other local musicians around the country to do the same in their own unique way – preserving the legacy of Live Aid & The Band Aid Foundation and then applying it to support local charities and community values.

So far we have secured permissions to fund raise for 3

Kick Start FC, a local charity that promotes sporting activities for children centred around Football fundraising. https://www.facebook.com/KickFCStart/

Kids on Track – a team of local volunteers that run Summer and Winter camps for large groups of underprivileged Children from troubled backgrounds in Hampshire. https://kidsontrack.org.uk/

Finding Freedom from Abuse – A Local support and refuge centre https://www.findingfreedom.org.uk/

Welcome to Love Aid UK – it’s Live Aid – But with Local musicians!