The Gallery - One Day in August

I decided to do my first (and quite possibly last) ever post for The Gallery hosted by Tara Cain at her Sticky Fingers blog today for two reasons. Not because I've taken a photograph that I am particularly proud of or desperate to share. No. The prompt was the first reason. It was to record One Day in August and specifically 29th August 2010. This date was chosen to coincide with the 3 bloggers heading to Bangladesh to support Save the Children. You can find out more about Blogladesh here. It's something well worth supporting and if by posting for The Gallery I could help spread the word then I really should, shouldn't I.

The second reason was that we already had plans for the date in question and it was possibly going to yield some interesting photographs. During the August bank holiday, Liverpool hosts the Matthew Street Music Festival. As you can probably guess, it is the culmination of a celebration of The Beatles in the city although is by no means limited to music of the Fab Four.

We chose to attend on the Sunday because Mrs S loves Guns 'n' Roses and there was a particularly good tribute band for them lined up to play that afternoon. In the tradition of the original band, Guns 2 Roses arrived late for their set which subsequently had to be cut short. At least they had the good grace to appologise as well as try to lay the blame on Cheshire Police.

Matthew Street Music Festival is the largest free music festival in Europe and the six outdoor stages sprinkled throughout the city concentrates mainly on quality tribute acts. They do have one stage that was entirely made up of local original artists and I can recommend The Rialto Burns who have got an early 80's indie sound but with a more positive vibe.

The photo for The Gallery is of the crowds enjoying two of the original members of The Boomtown Rats on the Live Aid Tribute Stage, which finished off the day with a crowd pleasing Queen tribute act which had the mouth of The Mersey Tunnel drooling with pleasure with the supeb World Museum, Liverpool as a backdrop.

Almost as a footnote to the day, but potentially the most important aspect of it to me, The Anthony Nolan Trust were recruiting people for their register of bone marrow donors at Liverpool Town Hall. I carry a donor card which bears the inscription "I would like to help someone after my death". But why can't I help someone while I'm still alive and get the satisfaction that would come from that? So I signed up. If you are between 18 and 40 (phew just scraped in) and in good health then it would be amazing if you could consider signing up too. And no, they don't stick a needle in you. Do you think I would be on the register if they did ? I refer you here and here for evidence.