AS part of a national anti-austerity movement, bands and artists from the area will play at a charity gig next weekend.

We Shall Overcome , a series of music concerts organised throughout the country to raise money for local people hit by homelessness and poverty, is heading to Sinderhope’s High Forest Community Centre next Saturday in aid of the West Northumberland Food Bank.

Among those signed up to play are Alston bands Bubble’ead, The Mount Hooley Band and Twig, while Allendale Folk Festival organiser Phil Ogg will perform along with North-East artists Cool Beans and The Symptoms.

Paul Frear, a punk artist from the Tyne Valley who works under the stage name of Uncle PAF, organisied the event after he was startled at how many people rely on food
banks in a supposedly affluent area such as Tynedale.

He said: “I joined the We Shall Overcome movement immediately when it was formed last year because I was deeply frustrated with what I was seeing locally with hardship and poverty.

“I find it incredible in the Conservative heartland of Tynedale, especially in a town like Hexham, how few people are aware that we even have a food bank and the great demands that are placed upon it.”

The concert will start at 3pm and people are asked to pay whatever they please.

All the proceeds will go to the West Northumberland Food Bank.