Concert raises thousands of pounds for beauty spot

Three bands, including SUSAN (pictured), performed at the fundraiser concert

A night of live music raised thousands of pounds to help a community group buy a much-loved beauty spot.

The For Heavens' Sake Music Festival on 25 July collected about £4,000 in donations and pledges, which will be put towards buying the 102-acre Thrupp Farm in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

The site includes Heavens Valley, which was made an Asset of Community Value (ACV) in June, meaning it cannot be sold for six months and allows campaigners time to complete their purchase bid.

Heavens Valley Community Benefit Society hopes to buy the land "so it can be used for generations to come".

The ACV covers around 10 acres of the site, which is used widely by locals and visitors, and has a waterfall and meadows.

The valley sits on the edge of the town of Stroud, stretching towards Thrupp, in the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

The Heavens Valley Community Benefit Society hopes to secure the beauty spot's future through community ownership

The music festival at Stroud Brewery featured three bands: SUSAN, The Greater Good, and singer-songwriter Natalie Shay with Joey Oscar.

It is understood that 13 people have also promised to pay £50 each to buy a share in the society.

They will join other shareholders in having a say in how the land is managed if the society's offer to buy the land is accepted.

Martin Whiteside, one of the society’s directors, said "Two very generous local people have lent us the money to buy the land in the short term.

The Stroud beauty spot features a waterfall, and is very popular with residents

"Now every penny raised will enable us to pay them back and secure a bit more of the land to be protected and owned by the community forever.”

The society is currently waiting to hear if its offer to buy Thrupp Farm has been accepted.

If it is, the society will contact everyone who has made pledges to ask them to convert their pledges into money.