The year was 1999 and John & Jackie Aspinall were having a party to celebrate 25 years of marriage.

Not one to do things by halves, John decided to combine his 2 biggest loves, his wife and music! Dronfield's football pitch was hired for the day, a stage was built and umpteen bands were invited to come and play. The 'Party on the Pitch' as it was known was a massive success with a guest list of over 1000 people, all of whom helped to contribute to charity by donating in the buckets around the ground.

John & Jackie Aspinall at 'The Party on the Pitch'

It soon became apparent that a day this good was worth re-creating and so year after year John has put massive amounts of time and effort into bringing the Dronfield Charity Music Festival to our little town.

The festival has gone through some changes but its essence has always remained, to provide a great day out for all ages and raise money for some fantastic local charities, with great music to boot!

The success of the festival can be measured by its contributions to numerous Dronfield and Sheffield based charities with the total funds raised over the years now totalling over £25,000.

2006 saw the festival move locations to a new home outside the Dronfield Woodhouse Sports & Social Club. The smaller 500 capacity space created a wonderful cosy atmosphere enjoyed by everyone but 2010 saw yet another change as the festival introduced a new and exciting acoustic stage to complement the main stage.

In 2010 the festival moved up on to a fenced off area of Dronfield Recreation Ground. The space was a little larger than the previous area but this accomodated new stalls including Henna tattoos and a clairvoyanat, among others. The acoustic stage was placed on the old space outside the club and this gave everyone an extra choice of music to enjoy.