A pound from every ticket sold for St Albans’ first major music festival will go towards local charities to support their work in the community.

The Meraki Festival, which takes place at Redbourn Showground from August 11-13, is supporting Humanitas, Home-Start Herts, Electric Umbrella and Rennie Grove Hospice Care.

Meraki organiser Kerry Marks explained: “Community is at the heart of what we do. By working with local charity and community partners we make sure that everyone has an opportunity to attend and be involved in Meraki!”

The Humanitas charity believes that everyone is entitled to health care, an education and a family, and through their ongoing work they strive to provide these three key rights all across the globe. They are being supported at Meraki by the Diddy Rascals group, who are running daily kids’ raves.

Events manager Genevieve Jones-Hernandez said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be involved with Meraki Festival. Diddy Rascals is a not-for-profit events company which supports the work of Humanitas charity and is local to the Hertfordshire area so being able to be part of this amazing, community-focused festival is exactly where we want to be.”

Herts Advertiser: Meraki Festival.Meraki Festival. (Image: Archant)

Home-Start was founded by Margaret Harrison in 1973 and is now one of the leading charities in the UK working with families in need. They offer a range of support services to families who are struggling with the demands and challenges of being a parent. The Herts organisation was hit by county council cutbacks in 2015, but came back fighting and is now supported largely by charity fundraising within the local community.

Home-Start Herts chief executive Lara Norris said: “At Home-Start we have been overwhelmed by the support we have received. This generous offer allows local families that we support to enjoy quality family time together at such an amazing event. As a local charity just getting back on our feet, it would have been so easy for this group to overlook these parents and children. Instead they have gone above and beyond to support families in Hertfordshire – right on our doorstep. We cannot thank them enough.”

Rennie Grove Hospice Care is well known in St Albans for providing specialised care which gives thousands of patients diagnosed with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses the choice to stay at home, surrounded by their friends and family.

Kate Grigg, head of fundraising in Herts, said: “We’re thrilled to be a charity partner for the Meraki Festival.

“It’s such a vibrant, feel-good event and it’s wonderful that it’s happening in the heart of our local community. Rennie Grove’s ethos is all about living life to the full and giving local patients the support they need and the choice they deserve so that they can live well irrespective of their diagnosis. We need to raise £7.6 million every year to help the thousands of families who need us and so it’s great to have the opportunity to raise not only much-needed funds at the Meraki Festival but also awareness of the services we can offer local families affected by cancer and other life-limiting illness.”

The final charity partner is Electric Umbrella, a vibrant, unique co-creation between adults with learning disabilities and music industry professionals. They are challenging the perception of people with learning disabilities by empowering and enriching lives through music.

The charity runs a diverse programme of events and provide a range of opportunities for everyone to demonstrate their musical ability, working together to create, experience and perform music through regular workshops, performances in pubs, studios, theatres, festivals, live radio and everything in between.

The Herts Advertiser is the official media partner for the Meraki Festival - follow everything that’s happening during the event on our website at hertsad.co.uk and the Herts Ad Facebook page, and don’t forget to use the hashtag #MerakiMemories when sending us pictures and comments.