Picture: AMANDA NANO
The Restore Trust Foundation held their first music festival to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Breath of Life Place of Safety on Saturday at the Old Selbornian Club in East London.
The family friendly event saw 820 music lovers gathered in a picnic style setting, jiving to ready to dance to the tunes of various musical artists.
Restore Trust director Andrew Rielly said they wanted to celebrate with the people of the city as Restore Trust and Breath of Life celebrated making a difference in others’ lives.
“Everyone loves music and we use music to remember the highs and lows from our past. For me, it was a no-brainer that a music festival had to be part of our celebration,” Rielly said.
Headline act, Matthew Mole, belted out popular tracks and his extraordinary drum skills which had the crowd enthralled.
Supporting acts included East London’s Jason Gladwin, Southern Gypsy Queens and Third Degree.
“Being my first time organising an event of this magnitude, prayer became an even larger part of my daily routine. The legalities around organising such an event was definitely a challenge, together with staying on top of things on the day of the event,” Rielly said.
Raising awareness of the work the non-profit organisation does was the first aim of the festival.
“We feel that this was achieved,” he said. and the fact that Breath of Life is being honoured as one of the finalists in the Inspiration Awards is proof thereof,” said Rielly.
Breath of Life saves babies from being abandoned and offer them a caring home until they are either placed or reunited with their families.
It also gives women who experience “crisis pregnancies” professional support.
Rielly said they hoped to make this an annual event, and raise funds at the same time.
“People in East London are hungry for events and things to do where the whole family can be involved.
“The community can help by attending events and by doing so help all NPO’s or NGO’s in the city,” he said.
