Now in its eighth year, Tony’s Day is an annual music event held by Wickham Park hotelier Marcus Wright and local musician Andrew Davis, to raise money for the Kids with Cancer Foundation.
Held on the last Sunday of November in honour of local musician and former Voodoo Express bass player Tony Coughlan, who passed away in 2010 after suffering a heart attack, the event includes a line-up of some of Newcastle’s best musical acts.
“We initially held the event to raise money for Tony’s family,” Marcus said.
“Then after that we continued the legacy and each year we donate the money in his honour to the Kids with Cancer Foundation. This year we held it on Sunday 26 November with a great line up of local talent.”
Local music acts including Voodoo Express, Justin Ngariki, Southern Under Stars Gasoline Halos and Kate Rose who all donated their time to help raise money for the cause.
The event also included raffling off a guitar, donations from patrons, and donations from the organisers themselves.
“Each year we raise about $4000, so overall the event has allowed us to donate more than $25,000 to the Kids with Cancer Foundation,” Marcus said.
“The people and the community here are amazing. Some of them just give money and don’t actually care about winning the guitar or anything like that, they just want to help out.
“We’re lucky here at the Wicko. The people who come here are just generally good people and we like that.”
Each year Marcus also organises the annual Fire Banned appeal, another live and local music event with all proceeds going to the Rural Fire Service.