A FREE festival is coming to Burtonwood as part of a club’s mission to engage more with the community and support grassroots music.

Burtonwood Catholic Club will be hosting the open air ‘Burtonwoodstock’ on Saturday with 12 bands and artists.

The family friendly showcase, outside the club in Phipps Lane, will also feature inflatable slides, face painting, children’s games, food and ice cream.

A new events team recently joined the 86-year-old club and behind the scenes 15 volunteers have been planning the festival since November.

They have also been hosting around four gigs a month to raise the profile of the venue.

Organiser Paul Wharton said: “We felt we needed a real flagship event where we could get the village and wider community involved.

“It’s a showpiece event for us and hopefully moving forward the festival will grow and put Burtonwood on the map. When we announced the event lots of bands and acoustic acts contacted us about performing which is fantastic.

“We want Burtonwood to be known as a village that supports live music.

“There’s a lot of talent in the area and as Warrington continues to push music, through its various festivals, we can be a part of that as well.”

The philosophy of the Burtonwoodstock is to have something for everyone and the team are hoping for a crowd of between 400 and 500 on the day.

Paul added: “We try and pick a range of artists that span the genres from pop to Motown and soul.

“The Bowie Room do a lot of David Bowie stuff as you can imagine but they also do stuff like Roxy Music and T-Rex. They’ll be a strong opening act for us but then there’s artists like Megan Lunt, who is from the area, and Jukebox Band who have performed at the club on a number of occasions and they’ll definitely end the night with everybody singing and dancing.”

All of the festival’s organisers have experience running events.

Paul supplies musicians for weddings which is where the Jukebox Band come in.

The 28-year-old said: “I’ve been running my own business for about six or seven years so I’ve had a lot of experience booking bands and working with musicians so that’s certainly helped with organising this event. I’m just really proud to be involved. It’s a great team of people. I’m really passionate about Burtonwood as my family has had a long association with the village.

Doors open at 1pm on Saturday before the festival is officially opened by Warrington Mayor, Cllr Karen Mundry, at 1.30pm. There will be live music until 10pm followed by an after party until midnight