Sheffield’s biggest free family-friendly music festival CareFest is back for 2025 to honour South Yorkshire’s carers and frontline workers .
The annual music festival, taking place on bank holiday Monday (25 August) from 2pm to 8pm, celebrates the life-changing work of healthcare and other often-overlooked frontline professionals.
Hosted in Thorncliffe Park, the day will embody a feel-good festival atmosphere with free food and drinks for carers with ID, games, fundraising activities and live music from headliners like Eurovision legends The Fizz, Republica’s lead singer Saffron, and The Voice 2024 contestant Kuill.
CareFest is in association with Visiting Angels South Yorkshire, a homecare service across Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley.
Victoria Wood, Head of Marketing at Visiting Angels, said: “Although [CareFest] is not solely aimed at carers, we want people to think back to when they were banging pots and pans during the pandemic and celebrating carers and the amazing impact that they make on everybody’s lives.”
Miss Wood highlighted the impact of the festival on carers, saying that they feel more ‘recognised’ and ‘appreciated’.
She added: “You don’t have to be a carer to come along. It really is just to celebrate those people that make such a difference.”
CareFest was founded in 2021 by Dan Archer, the UK CEO of Visiting Angels, to expand on the small act of clapping for the NHS during Covid 19.
In 2024, the festival surpassed expectations with almost 500 people enjoying performances from Homecare’s Got Talent winner Gordon Robertson and 80’s pop star Sonia.
Yvonne Marie Morton, 56, from Hoyland, Chapeltown, has been a carer for SheffCare – a residential care and dementia care home – for the last 15 years.
She attended her maiden CareFest last year, as an activity worker with residents from SheffCare’s Cotleigh Care Home and described the event as ‘absolutely electric’.
Miss Morton said: “It was absolutely amazing. One of my best events as an activity worker.
“[The residents] really enjoyed it. In fact, they wanted to stay!
“[CareFest] has an amazing impact because it’s all about communities coming together.
‘I think once people have been, they will continue going.”
Keynote Speaker, Host, Author and Campaigner Big Ian Donaghy was the MC (master of ceremonies) at CareFest 2024, highlighting the importance of the care sector and raising dementia awareness.
He said: “It was a beautiful day where care professionals brought the people they cared for to sing, dance and eat together.
“It was my job to involve everyone in between the acts and show them just how much they mattered.”
CareFest is a significant fundraising event for two Sheffield charities – Paces Sheffield and Sheffield’s Children’s Hospital Charity.
It provides them crucial community support and raises awareness.
Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity helps Sheffield Children’s NHS Trust – opened in 1876 – by offering support and funding above NHS provision in four key areas: research, environment, equipment, and facilities.
Romy Heritage-Willis, Community Fundraising Officer at Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity, said the charity is ‘incredibly grateful’ for the support of CareFest.
Miss Heritage-Willis said: “The money raised through events such as CareFest will go towards ensuring an enhanced patient and family experience and enabling Sheffield Children’s to be at the forefront of paediatric care.
“We wouldn’t be able to build a better hospital without the kind support from community events such as CareFest so we’re incredibly grateful that they have chosen to support our charity.”
Founded in 1997, Paces Sheffield is a charity and specialist school for children and adults with cerebral palsy or motor disorders, offering Conductive Education.
Jason Chan, Paces’ Fundraising and Events Coordinator, noted the cruciality of the festival in helping to spread awareness within the community.
Mr Chan said: “It’s really important for us because as a small charity, it’s vital to have support from different communities, different corporations in the UK, especially around South Yorkshire.
“It’s been really helpful because we can spread the word about what Paces is about especially since we’re based in the community in Chapel Town and the festival itself is at the car park at our school.”
According to Sheffield City Council, one in 10 people in Sheffield are carers, many of whom are unpaid.
The organisers of the music festival aim to keep it free and accessible, regardless of background or financial situation.
This is something Wayne Cubitt is the Managing Director of Rother Radio – a community radio station in Rotherham that sponsored CareFest 2024 – thinks is ‘really important’.
Mr Cubitt said: “People are struggling in this day and age. Disposable income seems to be declining every day for people.
“Five pounds could make all the difference between whether that person could come or not. So to make this a free event ensures that absolutely everybody is included.”
Mr Cubitt previously worked for Autism East Midlands (formerly NORSACA) a charity supporting autistic people and their families.
One of the main challenges he faced was the immense paperwork burden care workers face due to government and local authority ‘red tape’.
He said carers ‘spend more time doing paperwork than the actual caring side’.
Mr Cubitt also echoed sentiments shared by CareFest’s organisers; care workers’ contributions and challenges are often overlooked, despite their essential role in the community.
He added: “I don’t think workers do get enough recognition and enough reward for the work in which they do.
“For example, if somebody’s had a really difficult shift, there’s no harm in either that supervisor or that manager coming out and saying, “you’ve done really well today” or “thank you for staying behind for an extra six hours today.”
“I think a thank you goes a long way, and a lot of people forget about that in this day and age.”
To find out more about Visiting Angels or to enquire about their homecare call: 0114 299 1307 or email sheffield@visiting-angels.co.uk.
You can book tickets for CareFest 2025 on eventbrite.
