A ONE-day mini-festival is returning to raise funds for cancer charities.

Now in its ninth year, the BBQ on The Green festival is returning on May 11 from 12pm until midnight at Charborough Way Green in Sturminster Marshall.

The festival is fully volunteer-led and raises money for Forest Home Hospice in Poole, Guys Cancer Charity, London, and prostate cancer testing at the Graham Fulford Charitable Trust.

Louise Scrivener described how BBQ on The Green started.

She said: “Our first event came about after a very good friend of ours, Mandy Ross-Read, was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer.

"What’s most frustrating as a friend is that you feel so helpless, like you can’t really do that much.

"So, we decided that one thing we could do would be to raise money for cancer charities to invest in treatments and research, and that’s when we set up a committee to organise a fundraising event, our first BBQ on The Green.”

Shortly after, one of the team, Kev Boon, was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Louise added: “Finding out about Kev was really hard but also spurred us into action.

"It was just a simple idea at first, just a good bunch of people in the community getting a few friends and neighbours to come out and enjoy an evening all together donating money for BBQ food and a drink or two.

“That first year was a very cobbled together affair with a BBQ, a bunch of borrowed gazebos and some staging for a band. The turn-out was amazing and much better than we expected.”

From 2016 to 2019, the event grew and grew with stalls added, more bands, and lots more involvement from local businesses and members of the community.

Since 2015, BBQ on The Green has raised and donated more than £46,000 to cancer charities.

This year’s event is expected to be the ‘biggest and best’ to date, with a full line-up of live music throughout the day and headliners party rock band Curveball from Bournemouth to close.  

There will be a barbecue, bar, afternoon tea tent, games, crafts, raffle and lots of stalls.