A major music festival is being planned in Manton to raise funds for its worn-out village hall and Riding for the Disabled.

Mantonfest will take place on Saturday, June 23, from 2pm-11pm and Roger Grant, one of the organisers said: “Mantonfest is a celebration of a wide range of music by local and London-based bands catering for all tastes from classical to rock ‘n roll.

“This event is being organised by the Manton Village Hall committee, to raise much-needed restoration funds for Manton Village Hall and support Riding for the Disabled, which has a centre at The Grange.”

He said the music festival will be one of the biggest event’s Manton has ever seen.

“The festival brings a broad range of musical acts together and follows a successful, smaller scale, trial event last year,” he said.

He added that the date was chosen to make the event a shared celebration of the summer solstice and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The festival will take place in a water meadow in Preshute Lane, thanks to the generosity of land owners Ken and Jilly Carter, with the stage on a bulge of land set within a loop of the River Kennet.

Acts will include Straight Six – a London-based blues rock band that will provide the finale and whose bass player Stuart Whant has lived in Manton for the past 20 years.

Throughout the afternoon and evening, there will be entertainment from acts and artistes ranging from the Marlborough Community Choir to Charlotte Simonis, a budding West End singer whose home is in Marlborough.

Local bands and singers including St John’s School student Jo Peskett, who recently sang for the Queen during her Salisbury visit, will also perform.

All the performers will be donating their services for free and the event will include a beer tent, hog roast, burger and hot dog stands and children’s entertainment. Free parking is available and those attending are invited to take along their own picnics.

Tickets are available from Sumblers Butchers, the Merchant House, Krumbz, White Horse Bookshop and Sound Knowledge or from www.mantonfest.com. For credit card sales, call (01672) 514 038.

Tickets cost £10, or £7.50 concessions (senior citizens and children under 18) and £20 for a family (two adults and children 12 and under).