When Kelly the event organiser for Crafts In The Tower approached me a few weeks ago to get involved with the No More Durty Water project happening in October, I stepped in straight away. Knowing that Albert Road and Highland Road will come together to create a whole vibe for a day is music to my ears. I love how there will be so many busineses getting involved and offering a free way to explore this part of Southsea. With carefully curated markets and lot's of music happening, it is going to be a fab day.
No More Durty Water, a Portsmouth charity raising funds for clean water projects in Africa and India, is bringing Durty Sunday Social on Sunday 23 October 2022 from 11am. The idea is to have Durty Sunday Social bring local artists, performers and DJ’s together with independent traders, businesses and venues on Albert Road and Highland Road for a day of free events where there is something for everyone… and everyone is welcome.
Activities include an Art Fair in the Wedgewood Rooms supported by Crafts in The Tower, where you can browse and buy everything from portraits to plants and chairmaking to candles from 11 – 4. No More Durty Water is offering its famous t-shirts for a minimum donation of £5 for the first 50 people in the venue and My Friendly Planet will be offering free face painting and mask making workshops for children, while parents browse the fair. You’ll find creativity blooming throughout Albert Road all day with exhibitions of local artists at both The Royal Albert and The Corner Collective.
The live music on offer ranges from the silky-smooth Rat Pack vocals of Malc De Reding (in The Kings from 2.30) to the post punk guitars of Weekend Offender Records (in the Fifth Hantsfrom 5pm), via the soulful funk of Vanchango in the newly refurbished Vaults. The Front Room bring its (fire) brand of spoken word performance to The Hunter Gatherer from 3.30pm with the likes of Isle of Wight Donna, local author Alison Habens, Janet Ayers of the Southsea Community Choir and poet Sue Spiers, plus acoustic music from Just Lucy and Million Pebble Beach, all compered by Sam Cox the Portsmouth Poet Laureate.
Southsea’s DJ scene is well represented with sets from No More Durty Water honcho George Spence, Fishtank resident Jonty and Mark James from Soul 45 offering chilled and funky grooves in the Edge of The Wedge, the Nothing Ventured Vinyl residents battling it out in the shop and Pork Soda bring their own brand of craziness to Back To The Belgrave. All the participants in the Durty Sunday Social, whether artist, trader, performer or venue, share the same goals – to bring people down to the Albert Road area, raise money for clean water projects and have some fun doing it as well as increase the local economy of our beloved independent roads we have in Southsea!
Event organiser Kelly explains how the event evolved “We wanted to re-boot No More Durty Water post-Covid, because we had been unable to hold fundraising events. Crafts in the Tower has also been dormant so we decided to get together to raise funds by putting on an art fair, which The Wedgewood Rooms very kindly agreed to host. I live just off Albert Road and sell my artwork in Dress Code, so I’m aware that footfall isn’t great and people are feeling the pinch. We came up with the idea of asking local traders for a reasonable donation in return for us organising and marketing an event to promote the whole road in the run up to Christmas. It just escalated and we’ve been delighted with the generosity and community spirit of local traders, venues and creatives and how they’ve got behind the idea. We’ve nearly hit our fundraising target and now we want people to come out, get together and have some fun on the day!”
George Spence, Chairman of the Trustees of No More Durty Water spoke about the importance of the event: “The charity was founded by DJ Monkey P, who brought people together with his music and endless enthusiasm for fund-raising for the cause. He was gone too soon, but he left us with the drive to keep working to relieve water poverty and keep building connections in the community. The Durty Sunday Social does all of this and more and we’re very excited to see the turnout on the day. We’ve already raised £1200 towards sources of clean water that will transform lives. I’d like to thank every performer, trader, artist shop and venue for their generous support.”
All activities and venues are free to enter and participate but a small donation to No More Durty Water would be gratefully received. For all event listings please view here.
