West Beach Sessions music festival in Hopeman raises £3000 for Moray Inshore Rescue Organisation

LIFESAVING volunteers have accepted £3000 from the organisers of a local charity music festival.

On Saturday, September 24, crew members from Moray Inshore Rescue Organisation (MIRO) attended the Bootleggers Bar and Grill, Hopeman, where they were presented with a cheque by the West Beach Sessions stagers, West Beach Caravan Park.

MIRO chairman, John Low confirmed the Findhorn-based service depends on donations.

He said: "We are extremely grateful to the organisers of the West Beach Sessions charity music festival for their continued support and for this very generous donation.

"MIRO crew and shore support volunteers remain on call 24/7, 365 days of the year and have so far responded to 13 call outs this year."

Caravan park director, Ruth Scott, was thrilled to support MIRO's essential work.

She said: "We appreciate the excellent service that MIRO's volunteers provide to our coastal communities. We’re fully aware that if our kids got into difficulty in the water it would likely be MIRO that get to them first!

"We are delighted to award them £3000 from the proceeds of our 2022 festival."

The West Beach Sessions had to be cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to covid so 2022 was the first festival since 2018.

The event is staged in the first weekend of June and, this year, headline acts included Scottish bands Skerryvore, Session A9 and The Peatbog Faeries as well as local bands, The Boatshed Band and The Forty Elephants.

Ruth said: "We got together with 12 of our pals and were able to raise over £30,000 for local charities. To keep down the cost of insurance and event licences, we kept it as a private event and the 14 members of our committee invited family and friends.

"This means more of the money raised from food, bar, auction, raffle, accommodation, tent pitches and donations goes to charity."

To make a donation to MIRO, visit www.morayinshorerescue.org