The Florrie is gathering 600 guitarists at St George’s Hall to raise money to support its community work

The Florrie in Liverpool is getting 600 guitarists together again at St George’s Hall for a massive gig raising money to support its community work.

Back in June, the hall was the spectacular setting for The Big Guitar-In featuring hundreds of players of all ages and abilities, with lots of past and present members of The Florrie guitar group alongside special guests from Liverpool’s music scene.

Now organiser Timo Tierney is planning an encore, with 600 guitars plus 100 spectators filling the hall for one of the biggest musical performances it’s ever held.

And The Tea Street Band singer is lining up some mates to join in the day including The Bluebells (remember the 80s hit Young At Heart?), who are coming from Glasgow to take part, Nasher from Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Pete Wylie and Liverpool artist Kerri Ankrah.

Funds raised will go to help with the rising day-to-day running costs of The Florrie and specifically to provide instruments for people going along to its weekly guitar group.

Timo Said:

“Since June we’ve given out over 100 guitars that have either been donated or purchased by us. The money from The Guitar-In will help ensure there are always instruments there for a young person or someone who doesn’t have one to use. That way when someone comes along for four or five weeks and shows commitment, we can say ‘there’s a guitar to take away on loan’ and the trust is there that when the time comes, they’ll bring it back for the next person.

“We’ll also be able to get materials like new guitar strings, or if there’s a kid who’s broken his drum skin we can get him a new one – everything that’s needed so people can carry on learning.”

After the success of the spring concert, Timo aims to raise well over £3,000 this time through the sale of £5 tickets to the guitarists and audience members.

He explains:

“This is a fundraiser for us so we want to make sure we fill as many seats as we can. Last time the tickets were free and we found that not everyone used them so with even a small ticket price we hope that will encourage people to come. 

“That doesn’t mean if you haven’t got £5 you can’t come, no-one must ever be outpriced, so if anyone has issues getting that together they can email me, and we’ll also be keeping some tickets back to give away free to schools.”

The Big Guitar-In will follow a similar running order to last time, with guitarists all given a set of songs to learn ahead of the concert date – December 6.

But because it is an inclusive event, there’s no pressure to be note perfect.

“There’ll be four songs this time and if something’s a bit tough it doesn’t matter, still join in – any ability, whether you’re a beginner and you’ve just picked up a guitar or you’ve been playing for 40 years, this is for you,” adds Timo.

“We’ll have a brass section, a string section, a choir again, and artists there who’ve had number one singles that we’re going to be playing so it’s going to be brilliant.

“There’s never a time when we can all rehearse together so at that moment will be the only time that 600 people and the band and the artists get to play together.

“And there’ll be a few more special guests – we’ve had Bonehead from Oasis, Ian Prowse and the lads from Rain come along before – so you never know who you’ll be sitting next to!”

Find more infoformation about the Florrie and purchase your tickets here.

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