A staff member is tuning up his guitar for a high-profile musical extravaganza that began 10 years ago as a small event to raise funds for University Hospital Wishaw and a Down’s syndrome charity.

Kevin Noon will be playing a solo slot at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall during Sandfest, in aid of Down’s Syndrome Scotland, on 18 March 2018.

Kevin, who works as a cognitive and behavioural psychotherapist in the learning disabilities psychological therapies department at Kirklands, is among a host of musicians taking part in the showpiece, compered by TV favourite Sanjeev Kohli, which is a celebration of eighties Scottish music.

The artists include Clare Grogan, Ken and David McCluskey of the Bluebells, James Grant, Grahame Skinner, Campbell Owen (Aztec Camera) and Gordon Wilson (Love & Money).

Kevin has been involved in Sandfest for over eight years, but next year’s is the biggest ever. Usually the event is held in a small hall in Sandford, near Strathaven, but with the World Down Syndrome Congress coming to Glasgow in July 2018 it has been given a much bigger stage.

Sandfest began in March 2007 when Katy Lironi and Douglas MacIntyre held a party in their back garden to raise awareness of World Down’s Syndrome Day and asked guests to contribute.

They raised £600 that was split between Down’s Syndrome Scotland and the neonatal unit at Wishaw, where Katy and Douglas’s daughter, Matilda, who has Down’s syndrome, was born in 2004.

Over the years Sandfest has consistently raised around £3000 each year. Sandfest 2018 will herald Down’s Syndrome Awareness Week 2018 and raise much needed funds for the World Down Syndrome Congress.

Tickets can be bought by clicking HERE