RESIDENTS of a street in Horwich have banded together to host a lockdown community concert to raise money for Bolton Hospice.

Eleanor Houghton, 21, organised the outdoor event to raise spirits in her neighbourhood during the pandemic.

Starting as a simple idea to give people something to look forward to, the concert quickly snowballed, with musicians across the street taking part, and almost £1,000 raised for the borough's hospice.

Miss Houghton said: "I didn't think it would be so big, a few weeks into lockdown I thought 'I bet people are getting quite down because they can't go anywhere' and thought it'd be a nice thing to do just to cheer people up.

"Then my dad, who works for the hospice, suggested trying to raise some money for them and I thought I'd probably get about 30 quid for them and then the cash and cheques just started coming through the door.

"It was such a positive response, there was a really nice atmosphere and everyone helped to raise quite a bit of money – we're still getting donations."

The concert was held on Stoneycroft Avenue, in Horwich, on May 25, and saw people in the street volunteering to play during the event.

Miss Houghton, who plays the guitar, the drums, and keyboard, was joined by neighbour Josh, a drummer, and members of the Halle & BBC Orchestras.

Neighbours brought chairs out to the end of their drives to listen to the music.

The show lasted over two hours, and a video of the performances has been viewed over 1,500 times.

Miss Houghton added: "We had a great range of music and every body just got really into it, it was great.

"I'd love to do it again, and people on the street enjoyed it so much that they would like to make it an annual thing.

"It was one of the few times we'd all spoken to each other and it brought our street together in quite a nice way."

Visit the Lockdown Concert Facebook group to see the show.