Rock ‘n’ Stroll: In Lilford Park positively promotes the use of local green spaces. We aim to raise awareness and encourage the continued use of Lilford Park by the local community and those further afield. Through raising awareness and encouraging continued use, we are encouraging local councils and communities to invest more in their local green spaces; making these wonderful spaces available for generations to come. With the support of ‘The Friends of Lilford Park’ CIC and ‘GreenCrew’ CIC, both situated in Lilford Park, we aim to make the music festival an annual event thus providing a year on year increase in awareness and support for the park. Parks are struggling to keep their funding and thus are becoming run-down areas that local communities fear to go. By encouraging communities to use their parks more often, ‘Strike a Chord’ hopes to stop this steady decline by giving communities pride in the green spaces that are available to them.

What we'll deliver:

• Create 'Rock 'n' Stroll: In Lilford Park' Musical Festival
• Encourage people to visit the park throughout the year
• Create a sustainable and transferable event platform that can roll out nationwide
• Improve the mental and physical well being of the local community
• Raise awareness of the local park to a wider audience

Why it's a great idea:

Rock ‘n’ Stroll: In Lilford Park is part of the Strike a Chord CIC strategy to bring ‘People to the Music and Music to the People’. Rock ‘n’ Stroll focuses specifically on encouraging the use of local parks by the local community. This is achieved by introducing people to the parks who normally would not attend them and expanding the use of the park by putting on free music festivals and artisan markets. The music festival and artisan market will help both the community and local councils; parks not used are becoming run down, no-go zones for local communities. The more people value their local spaces the more they will help to look after them thus driving down crime and antisocial disorder in the area. Rock ‘n’ Stroll: In Lilford Park will be a free music festival put on by Strike a Chord CIC. Local bands and musicians will complete the musical line-up. We are running a ‘Battle of the Bands’ for local schools and colleges in the wigan area. The prize is a live slot at the festival.

Steps to get it done:

• Approach local bands to express an interest in playing
• Approach local Schools and Wigan Council about running a Battle of the Bands for young and upcoming bandsg
• Approach Wigan council and get their involvement
• Contact local CIC's to get their involvement and support
• Create Website and social media presence
• Organise security for the site
• organise volunteers for the site
• Get quotes for staging, PA, etc
• Plan the site and submit to Wigan Council

Communities lack knowledge about local amenities like parks. Only certain members of the community tend to know about what is available. By running a music festival and artisan market, Strike a Chord will encourage a much larger audience to attend and hopefully return to the park throughout the year.