Special night of live bands will celebrate life of music-loving Morecambe dad

Guy Fest is taking over the town’s Johnny’s Warehouse Bar on Tuesday August 15 from 6-11pm with a line-up that includes bands Twentyfourseven, Slypdexic, Ruins and Geriatrix, plus the SJ Hospice Choir.

Open to all music lovers, Guy Fest is raising money for Rosemere Cancer Foundation and St John’s Hospice, Lancaster, in tribute to Guy Heath, whose mum and dad Tricia and Frank Heath, wife Jaimie and children Tom, 16 and Daisy, 14, and his sisters Faye and Zoe are the festival’s main organisers.

Guy was just 49 years-old when he died almost a year ago. A regional business manager for payment provider Worldpay, he had been diagnosed with a very rare, very aggressive form of bladder cancer in December 2020.

Emergency chemotherapy just days later on New Year’s Eve, which was arranged by consultant Dr Alison Birtle at Rosemere Cancer Centre, Lancashire and South Cumbria’s regional specialist cancer treatment and radiotherapy centre at the Royal Preston Hospital, initially saved his life.

Jaimie said: “The treatment Guy received at Rosemere Cancer Centre under Dr Birtle gave Guy an extra two years of life during which we were able to enjoy good times.

“Guy and Dr Birtle developed a close and special bond, so much so that she is now a family friend. Guy was an amazing man. He was so brave and fought so hard, undergoing multiple treatments and surgeries as his cancer spread. He spent two weeks in St John’s Hospice where he was able to rest and have a good pain management plan arranged. Guy then suffered a stroke at home.”

Jaimie, who works for Lancaster-based Christian charity The Olive Branch, added: “Almost a year on, we want to celebrate Guy who loved life and fun and music. His nephew Gabriel plays guitar in Slypdexic and every band has members who knew Guy.

“As a family, we have had so much support from Guy’s many friends and colleagues, members of our church, Morecambe Parish Church and the community that Guy Fest seemed the perfect event to bring everyone together.”

Tickets for Guy Fest are available at £10 for adults and £5 for children through online ticket website Skiddle at https://www.skiddle.com/ and from family members.

The family donated £1,450 to Rosemere Cancer Foundation two years ago when Daisy, who like her brother is a pupil at Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy, did a sponsored 24-hour silence for the charity.

Rosemere Cancer Foundation works to bring world class cancer treatments and services to cancer patients from throughout Lancashire and South Cumbria being treated not only at Rosemere Cancer Centre but also at another eight local hospital cancer units across the two counties.

The charity funds cutting edge equipment, research, training and other cancer services and therapies that the NHS is unable to afford. For further information on its work, including how to make a donation, visit www.rosemere.org.uk