Glastonbury Festival might take a whole year to organise, but Hanham’s CatFest came together in just four months.
When Catherine Garland’s friends Katie Sperring, Emma Finn and Sarah Smyth heard the devastating news that Cat’s cancer had returned, they pulled out all the stops to raise money to send Cat, 46, on the trip of a lifetime with her family – raising almost £35,000 in the process.
It was only April, when Cat, who lives in Kingswood with son Parker and husband Stu, was told her breast cancer was back. She had always wanted to visit her brother in California and to combine this with a family trip to Disneyland. So one evening, her three best friends decided to hold a music festival to raise the money and, just like that, CatFest was born.
Katie has been friends with Cat for around 20 years and said: “Emma and her husband Dan suggested we have a fundraiser for Cat with a bit of live music. And then me and Sarah said for a joke that we could have things like wristbands, bunting and decorations, like at Glastonbury, and call it CatFest.”
About 300 people attended the all-day event on August 17. CatFest included a kids’ colour run, a Meat Loaf tribute act called Meat Loud, an Elvis impersonator in the form of Dick from Wick, as well as live music from local band Junction 19 and a DJ set from Ash Belsten. Stalls offered glitter face painting, hair braiding, cakes and more, from which all the traders donated their profits. A silent auction had prizes including VIP tickets to London’s o2 Arena and signed football shirts.
Katie’s husband Dan Sperring is the vice-chair at Hanham Athletic FC, so he helped secure the venue free of charge. And there was a friendly football match at the festival, with former players from Hanham AFC and AFC Flowerpot in Kingswood coming out of retirement to join in. Cat’s son Parker also joined the team and was crowned Man of the Match.
Once word got out about what the three friends were organising, offers of help started to pour in. “A lot of the offers were from people we reached out to,” says Katie. “It’s amazing what social media can do now. It was really overwhelming.”
Explaining why Cat is so special, Katie said: “Cat is just a very genuine, amazing woman. She’s the most supportive, incredible person. She was quite overwhelmed initially but she loved it.”
Katie, Emma and Sarah are keen to thank the businesses who helped with the costs of putting the day on and volunteered their time. These businesses are P31 Carpentry, JB Comms, Total Access, Stringer Construct, Atomic Signs and Bright Evolve.
They also thank the Henlie Group, the company run by Dan Finn where Cat works as office manager, which covered the majority of costs. Shield Services got in touch after chairman Luke House offered to match fund the first £10,000 raised.
Katie said: “A huge thank you to everyone. All we can hope now is Cat’s well enough to make the most of the opportunity she’s got for her, Parker and Stu to make those memories. This is the last thing we ever wanted to have to do, we’d much rather have Cat in good health. But everyone coming together made it so much easier.”
To contribute to the fund, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/catherine-cat-garland-catfest
By Jane Williams