St Albans live music festival receives more than just a round of applause
4:48pm Wednesday 14th July 2010

By Alexandra Barham

A festival promoting live music in St Albans City Centre was given a big hand from a Hertfordshire County Councillor who donated £1,000 towards the running costs.

Councillor Chris White, who represents St Albans Central, allocated the money from his locality budget to help pay for Buskers Week, which featured in the annual St Albans Festival, ending on June 27.

Included in the festival’s calendar for the first time, Buskers Week saw entertainers, dancers and musicians fill the city’s streets with live music.

The cash has gone some way in helping the organising committee to meet advertising and staffing costs as well as buying support materials. Small contributions have also been made towards the buskers’ travel expenses.

A total of £10,000 is available to each of the 77 members of Hertfordshire County Council to spend on worthwhile community projects in their area.

Councillor White, who is also a St Albans district councillor for Clarence ward, said: “Live music is a great bonus for special calendar events such as the St Albans Festival – not only attracting people there in the first place, but also keeping them entertained and interested throughout.

“This is all part of promoting St Albans as a cultural and historical centre, to local people and to tourists from further afield.

“I am very pleased to have been able to help out with some of the expenses involved in Busker Week and I very much hope that everybody enjoyed the various performers who came along to entertain us this year.”