This year Rokefest is supporting a charity that is very close to our hearts.
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Oxford Hospitals Charity supports the local hospitals that care for our families and loved ones – the John Radcliffe, Churchill, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and Oxford Children’s Hospital.
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The charity raises money to transform hospital areas for patients and staff, purchasing the very latest medical equipment, making hospital spaces more comfortable and welcoming and supporting important medical research.
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In memory of Ashley Jones, our much-loved local friend, Rokefest 2022 is in aid of one of the charity’s important funds – The Julian Starmer-Smith Lymphoma Fund.
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This focuses on research taking place in Oxford into lymphoma blood cancers, which are the which are the fifth commonest type of cancers in the UK.
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Rokefest organisers explain: “We select a different worthy charity every year for Rokefest. In 2020 we planned to raise much needed funds for Julian Starmer-Smith Lymphoma Fund as one of our dearly beloved locals, Ashley Jones, sadly passed away, far too young, after his second battle with lymphoma.
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“Covid meant we couldn’t run Rokefest for two years, but we are certainly making up for lost time, and plan to do Ashley proud at this year’s festival. This is our 15th year of running Rokefest and we hope this year to raise more money than ever. We have a fantastic line-up over the three days and all the bands are kindly playing for free. We hope people dig deep into their pockets and donate generously for this very worthy cause.
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Sarah Vaccari, Head of Communications, at Oxford Hospitals Charity, said: “We are so pleased that Rokefest has chosen to support the important research done by our Julian Starmer-Smith Lymphoma Fund. This is such a wonderful tribute in memory of Ashley.
“As a local myself I know what a fantastic event Rokefest is – and how excited everyone is to see it back this year. And as well as being a fabulous weekend of music, in the most beautiful of settings, Rokefest has an incredible history of raising funds for very special causes, so we are thrilled to be a part of it.”
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The Julian Starmer-Smith Lymphoma Fund supports research taking place into lymphoma blood cancers to help identify how patients will respond to different treatments. Your kind donations at this year's Rokefest will help fund this important work taking place in Oxford.
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Every year the festival raises money in aid of a selected charity. The previous festivals, we have raised well over £10,000 for our chosen charity, through donations for wristbands and sale of eco pint cups. 100% of the proceeds go to charity. So please dig deep for this very special fund.