A song and dance in the street for Bishop Auckland based charity

Paul Brown who runs Auckland travel with his wife has found a way of connecting with his street and raising money for charity while maintaining social distancing. Mr Brown wanted to cheer people up after being stuck in the house for three weeks but raise money for the Angel Trust a North East based charity.

His daughter wrote a letter to the 35 residents on the street telling them about the performance, people came out with their chairs to watch and sing along to Madness. The performances are live streamed on Facebook with the first one getting over 5,000 views.

Mr Brown said: “The reaction I had was fantastic, the response from the charity and the residents was overwhelming, I have been knocked back by some of the comments. Obviously being cooped up in the house it is nice to get out and see people on the street coming together to dance.

“I saw someone in London do it and put it on social media so I though why not?

“It’s a good idea to make someone for the charity, if I can cheer people up and make a bit of money for charity then that would be fantastic, to me that is priceless.”

Mr Brown managed to raise £175 on the first night he performed, he put a collection box at the end of his driveway. The music selection on the first night included The Commitments with tracks like Mustang and Sally and then on the bank holiday weekend Mr Brown performed Madness.

Clair McGregor from the Angel Trust said: “Its amazing and we are very proud of him, we follow him every time he’s on.

“We are really struggling at the moment and we have nothing coming in, and all of our events have had to be cancelled. We have been supporting the community with our boredom packs and the money Paul has raised will go to helping the community.

“We have a lot of things planned last week we delivered over 3,000 Easter eggs to people in the community and we are planning more deliveries such as afternoon tea. Paul’s donations and the donations of his audiences will help fund our work.”

Joanne Suddick who gave him the idea of raising money for the Angel trust said: “He's kept spirits really high and gave them something to look forward to, we can't thank him enough for not just donating but keeping us all going near and far in these hard times he's made £350 up to now which he's hoping to top over 400 this Saturday, outstanding.”

The Angel Trust have been very supportive of the donations and performances and sent the family and the entire street thank you cards.

Callum Hodgson a neighbour of Mr Brown said: "We first found out about the performance from small letters that Paul and Donna posted through our door, we weren't sure what to expect but the turnout was amazing.

"Everyone was at the end of their drives having a great time which is well needed under Lockdown. It put a smile on everyone's face and also brought us together as a community, all while raising money for the Angel Trust.

"Paul updates the street on his charity street performances on Saturdays via Facebook and has a specific theme each week for us all to break the monotony of Lockdown. The spirit of Paul and his family is what this country is all about during hard times."

Mr Brown is to perform this Saturday March 18 at 4pm, he has promised to perform the Commitments again after the big reaction from his first street gig. Donations can be made to the Angel Trust via their Facebook page or via Mr Brown’s donation bucket. He has also promised to do a gig in the local park when the lock down is over.