WEYMOUTH'S annual Fayre in the Square event will be taking place online this weekend.

This year marks the seventh year of the Fayre and it will look very different from the previous six. Instead of families gathering at Weymouth Hope Square by the harbour, listening to live bands and eating food from stalls, viewers can tune in from the comfort of their own homes and watch artists perform via a link.

The annual event is organised by the Rotary Club and, this year, one member of the club, David Langridge, has taken on the task of moving the family-friendly festival online.

Mr Langridge said: "For the past few years I've organised the bands on the day and we had this year's line-up mapped out and the bands ready and we were just getting to the point of producing the programme and then, of course, the whole world got turning on its head.

"One of the regular performers, Ed Hintze, suggested making the event virtual so I looked into it and talked with my friends at the Rotary Club about it and they were on board and I was given the role of organiser.

"One of the things I found challenging was that the majority of the people we've got in Fayre in the Square are in bands and without bands being able to get together, because we are all stuck at home, it wouldn't work. However, we have managed to get roughly 14 artists ready for the day, including Crystal Ship, Darron Garnett, and Dorset for Singing, as well as a couple of presenters from Wessex FM."

The annual event has raised as much as £16,000 for charity in previous years through donations from the public, stall holders giving money to secure their spots and sponsorships from local businesses.

Mr Langridge said: "Fayre in the Square generates a lot of money for local charities and charities are struggling at the moment as their funding has dried up so our drive is to raise some money for them.

The Rotary Club is open to suggestions from the public of which charities they would like to support and is happy to consider any charities proposed.

The event will be streamed on Saturday June 7 from midday until 6pm on the Fayre in the Square Facebook page, the Loving Weymouth and Portland Facebook page and the Loving Weymouth Youtube channel.

Mr Langridge added: "We are looking at the positives rather than the negatives. We have got bands that want to help us out, we've got a set to put forward and we welcome anyone that wants to tune in and by tuning in if you want to donate what you can afford to charity then you can help those less fortunate than ourselves."

You can donate to the Fayre in the Square justgiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/rotaryclub-weymouth.

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