Liam Gallagher, Arctic Monkeys & more donate items to NHS FEST charity raffle

17 April 2020, 15:33 | Updated: 17 April 2020, 15:41

The raffle sees the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Gerry Cinnamon and Sam Fender donate items to raise money for the NHS.

Liam Gallagher is among the musicians to donate rare and collectible items to help raise funds for the NHS Fest raffle.

The initiative is part of Help Our NHS - which was launched by the Oasis legend's tour manager Ben Pomphrett to help support the National Health Service during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Get the latest NHS advice on Coronavirus

Previously, Help Our NHS has donated hand creams, sandwiches, toiletries, hand creams, drinks, sweets and cakes to staff and partnered with food distributors and various other suppliers to dispatch donations to intensive care units. The project has initially been launched in Scotland and is set to expand across the UK imminently.

Now Pomphrett has drawn on his experience in the music industry to raise funds for the project by launching the new NHS FEST music raffle, with support from The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice.

The aim is to raise funds to distribute regular care packages to as many frontline staff as possible throughout this crisis with donations from the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Sam Fender, The Chemical Brothers, New Order and much more.

For a £5 raffle ticket, music fans could be in with a chance of winning an extremely rare pair of signed Adidas LG Spezial trainers, A set visit during the filming of season six of Peaky Blinders and tickets to the Peaky Blinders Festival and a pair of Golden Tickets, which will allow entry to all Live Nation UK shows and festivals throughout 2021.

QUIZ: Guess the Oasis Song title from the emojis

The raffle will now take place between this Friday 17 April from 6pm and Sunday 19 April at 6pm.

Delighted to say the raffle relaunching is at 6pm tonight, ending 6pm on Sunday. We have tech support on standby & have a queue system ready if there’s too many people using the site. Now have support from @MytonHospices (+ @PPWHospice) to ensure the project runs smoothly. Enjoy! pic.twitter.com/xfwetgcXSF
— NHS Fest (@NHSFest) April 17, 2020

Fans can enter the raffle by visiting www.nhsfest.co.uk, where they’ll see a list of artists and companies who have gifted prizes arranged in a festival-style poster. Clicking on an artist name will direct you to a page which details the prize on offer and allows you to enter the raffle, with all tickets priced at £5.

The NHS Fest website also offers two further methods for fans to support the initiative. A range of festival-style merch is available for those who want to show their support in a tangible way, while a crowdfunding option provides an easy way for people to donate a little extra.

Pomphrett said: "The idea for the project mainly stems from having a partner who works in intensive care. With an understanding of how busy they can be in normal times, and the challenges they’re about to face, it just seemed like something worth doing. Since I work as a tour manager, and the music industry now on pause for the foreseeable, it’s a way for me to put my free time to good use, and hopefully do something beneficial. Partnering with The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice has transformed this project from an idea to a reality, and will also help with their day-to-day operations which include treating patients affected by Covid-19, which isn’t necessarily obvious when thinking about frontline staff.”

Rhona Baillie, Chief Executive of The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice, commented: “We are absolutely delighted to be working with Ben to allow this amazing idea to become a reality. We want to do whatever we can to help support our NHS colleagues during this difficult time. All money raised from this raffle will go towards the NHS and we are also delighted that the hospice will receive a small donation too.”