Vinyl Sessions music event boosts Sir Robert Ogden unit at Harrogate District Hospital

New restaurant Oliveta opens in Harrogate town centre

Volunteer-run Vinyl Sessions, which began monthly in 2018, has been hit by lockdown rules at times, but held a one-off special music evening online last week between Christmas and New Year.

The event, which focused on classic album Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, was aiming to support the Friends of Harrogate Hospital charity which was just £2,700 short of a £12,700 project to provide two special consulting rooms at the Robert Ogden unit in Harrogate.

The end result was very close to achieving that objective,

Organiser Colin Paine said: "Back in early November I started wondering how possible a live event would be between Christmas and New Year.

"Like many I have Zoom fatigue but I'm glad we did

"Thanks to our supporters we raised £2,030 towards the new consulting room facility at the Sir Robert Ogden unit in Harrogate.

"We must be doing something right to raise that much!!!

"I'd like to thank Dave King Graham Chalmers Ann Townsend Jim Dobbs Gareth Jones and special guest Andrew Paine for their support on the night."

The Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre (SROMC) at Harrogate Hospital provides high quality cancer treatments and health and wellbeing services and was opened in March 2014

Since being launched nearly four years ago at at Starling Independent Bar Cafe Kitchen under organiser Colin Paine, Vinyl Sessions has raised in total more than £13,000 for Friends of Harrogate Hospital charity.

Hosted by Darley vintage hi fi enthusiast Colin Paine, each event features an introduction by the Harrogate Advertiser's Graham Chalmers to a classic rock album, a playback in full of the album on vinyl courtesy of Colin and a bespoke video created by Jim Dobbs.

The event continued online after the first lockdown in March 2020 but has not happened in person now for nearly two years.

Over the years, Vinyl Sessions events have featured bestselling albums from the 1960s to late 1990s including Led Zeppelin IV, ELO’s Out of The Blue, Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms, The Beatles Sgt Pepper, The Stone Roses' eponymous debut The Who’s Who’s Next, Oasis’s What’s The Story, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, Ian Dury's New Boots and Panties and Blondie’s Parallel Lines.

In January 20, Vinyl Sessions moved for one night only to All Saints Church in Kirkby Overblow and attracted a packed audience of more than 300 people for a special event devoted to Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells.

A Vinyl Sessions evening in 2018 devoted to David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust album even saw a personal appearance by legendary producer Ken Scott who was interviewed on stage by the Harrogate Advertiser’s Graham Chalmers.

The event also benefits from occasional guest appearances by local DJs Ian Smith and Dave King.

More more information or to donate to Friends of Harrogate Hospital charity, visit www.vinylsessions.org

Tonight Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here in spotlight in Harrogate's Vinyl Sessions