Involved in the series of live-streamed summer concerts were: Frank Byrne, musician Peter Doran, Bernie McHugh, LARCC, Fiona Fitzgerald of Visit Westmeath, Blizzards frontman Niall Breslin, Mark Bennett, Crosscut Productions, and Justin Ryan, Louize Carroll and Dec Murphy of The Blizzards.

Summer concerts raise €5k for LARCC

The proceeds from a series of summer concerts live-streamed to viewers at home during the lockdown, and organised by Mark Bennett of Crosscut Productions in association with Visit Westmeath, were handed over to LARCC Cancer Support Centre on Saturday week last.

In total, €5,500 was raised by the venture, which saw the likes of Peter Doran and Brian Murphy perform live from inside Belvedere House, followed by a gig by Bobby and The Blunts live from outside the historic house on the shores of Lough Ennell.

The third instalment in the series saw The Tonic House Collective perform live from Kilbeggan Distillery, while for the finale The Blizzards took to the stage in front of a spectacularly-lit Tullynally Castle, with shooting by over 10 cameras and a live drone feed.

“We shot, directed and edited all of these live streams with a bunch of very talented people who helped out on sound, lighting and cameras, and who all donated their time for free to raise funds for LARCC,” said Mark.

“Everyone was excited to be involved in a cool creative project as there really wasn’t much happening in the entertainment industry because of Covid-19, and I think it created quite a buzz for us all to be involved,” he said.

“Each one just seemed to get bigger and bigger in terms of production values. We all had an appetite for it and wanted to go bigger than the last each time.

“In all, we raised €5,500 for LARCC, which was huge but we also succeed in bringing Westmeath music and key tourism locations around the county, to a global platform.

“Between the four streams there were over 200k online impressions,” he said, adding that key people involved in the live streams were Fiona Fitzgerald of Visit Westmeath, Lee Bracken, Mick Bracken, Shane Gorry, Paul Plunkett, Frank Byrne, Robbie Burzawa, Arthur and Theodore Stones, and Kevin Bracken.

“I’d like to say a massive thanks to everyone who got involved, and to everyone who tuned in and donated,” said Mark, who added that there are further live-streams planned for 2021.

• All live-streams from earlier in the year can be seen here: facebook.com/visitwestmeath/videos/?ref=page_internal