Popular Preston festival to return for fifth time

Evanfest 5 is to be staged at Ships and Giggles in Fylde Road, with live music and acts to raise money for Bipolar UK.

The event was first held in 2013 to honour the final wishes of Evan Page, who had bipolar disorder and died in 2012 aged 39.

Before his death, Evan had asked close friend Kate Jones to stage a gig to raise awareness of bipolar, and she has since teamed up with Pete Knight and Lynda Lamb to organise the festival. This year’s Evanfest will take place on April 29, with “amazing” plans already taking shape.

Acts are set to include Dirty Bare Feet, Deadwood Dog, Millie and Sam Weaver, DJ Mick Mather and Martin Rawcliffe, as well as many others.

Kate, 49, said last year’s event attracted about 1,000 people throughout the day, and said: “It just gets busier and busier and bigger and bigger every year.

“It really has spread amazingly. This is honouring the last thing he asked us to do as friends, and it’s just snowballed. He would have been immensely proud of it and everybody who supports, performs, organises and has anything to do with it.

“He had an awful lot of friends from different parts of the community - artists, musicians, bikers - he was an incredible person, he was always there if he could be. He would have been completely over the moon with it.”

Kate thanked Andy Mac for allowing Evanfest to be held at Ships and Giggles, and said: “He really has been wonderful.”