GLASTONBURY may not be on this year but a music mad Wensleydale farmer has staged his own sell out event raising a record £17,000 with a charity concert in his barns.

It brings to £62,500 the amount raised by 71 year-old Peter Fall and his family for good causes through their Barn that Rocks concerts. This year nearly 800 people attended with tickets sold out two weeks beforehand.

Mr Fall has never been on holiday in his life but has been to dozens of concerts and music venues. It was after a funeral he decided his home Grazing Nook Farm near Bedale was the ideal spot for such an event.

Friends were complaining the only time they got together was at such sad events and it was then the Barn that Rocks was born. "I just thought it was so true that we hardly met up apart from at funerals, so we held the first one eight years ago and it's just grown and grown since then," said Mr Fall.

The event is for people of all ages from eight to 80 with half the dale regularly turning out, and all money raised going to charity, this year the Friends of the Friarage.

"It was incredible," said Mr Fall. "It really was a fabulous night, I want to thank everybody involved, the bands were on fire, the caterers, everyone. It is a real passion now, I just want to make sure people have a good night and we raise absolutely as much as possible for charity.

"There is a lot to do, we have to sort out the licensing and make sure it is totally safe, we had to have quite a bit of work done on the barns to guarantee they were right for access and so people can get out, but it's important so we did it. It's a real honour and a privilege to stage this event," added Mr Fall.

Caroline Robson who runs Rhubarb and Roses in Bedale, one of the local businesses who help sell tickets and support the event said it's totally down to the enthusiasm and sheer dedication of Mr Fall.

"His tireless enthusiasm is astonishing, and his efforts are rewarded by people turning out in the numbers that they do to support both the event and the charity's which benefit each year," she said. While most concert organisers who'd staged such a successful event would be sorting out a holiday, Mr Fall has no plans to change the habit of a lifetime. "We're working on posters for next year, it's on June 8, 2019," he said.