An inaugural music festival dubbed Gustard Woodstock was music to the ears of a charity offering a range of services to the elderly and disabled.

Four local bands performed a diverse range of music to an audience of 200 at the all-day event at the Cross Keys pub in Gustard Wood, near Wheathampstead, in aid of Hertfordshire Action on Disability (HAD).

Young Harpenden-based singer songwriter Jack Stewart, 15, armed with just an acoustic guitar, got the event underway with a set of contemporary English urban sounds.

St Albans School student Jack, who has played at the Horn and Fighting Cocks in St Albans and Harpenden’s Inn on the Green, said: “I really enjoyed playing on such a big stage to a big crowd.

Rapper Jonathan Goodman entertained the late afternoon crowd with his Testsite MC show while Beans and Biscuits, who list their musical influences as Hank Williams, Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, Asleep at the Wheel and Ronnie Lane, played a set of country/hillbilly-inspired tunes.

Headline act Wrong Direction wound up the festival with two sets of rock covers featuring tunes from Frankie Miller, Thin Lizzy, Bad Company, ZZ Top and Whitesnake amongst others.

HAD fundraiser Paul Bishop said the event had raised almost £2,000 and added: “Let’s hope we can do it again next year.”

HAD’s next fundraiser is a cricket match at Harpenden Cricket Club on Sunday, August 21.