A MUSIC festival started by a Shropshire man whose mother was diagnosed with cancer, has returned to Wem.

Charmina Festival – which this year is supporting the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund, Severn Hospice and Cancer Research UK – was started by Harry Reece after his mum Joy was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2017.

Now into its second year after a successful first event two years ago, Harry came up with the idea of the festival in the grounds of the family home to get everybody together to have fun while raising money for local cancer charities.

He said: "I started it in 2017 after mum was given a terminal cancer diagnosis.

"It was meant to be a one-off but it was so successful and well-received that we decided to do a second one.

"Mum passed away in May 2018 and this is a way of giving something back.

"We've chosen these three charities, two being on our doorstop, because they are community based and without them there wouldn't be the support mechanism for people on their cancer journeys – they offer impeccable care and service."

Harry and his sister Sophie Hughes and the rest of the Charmina team – which is now a community interest company (CIC) – were delighted with the amount of festival goers for this year's event which saw Kazabian, a top UK tribute band and other local bands take to the stage to entertain the crowd.

There was also a children's play area, bar, inflatable obstacle course and food and drink stalls.

Sophie said: "We are expecting 700 people today, we had 500 at the last one.

"Harry started it but we now have a team of eight who got together to help him organise this one to bring everyone together."

"There's a real feel of community ethos now that we are a CIC," Harry added.

"We've had a great response from the local community, and we can't thank people enough.

"A massive thank you to the Shingler Group and other businesses for their sponsorship too."