On 4/2/2023, Bristol's Grateful Dad will, once again, be banishing the long empty days of Dry January by bringing their joyful blend of country, blues, swing and disco cover versions to the St Andrews Bowling Club for Retoxstock 4.

There will be a bar, free cake and an abundance of gleeful bonhomie as we bring you songs you know, songs you ought to know and songs you didn't think could sound like that. If you want to know what to expect, check out our facebook page.

Entry is free (although you'll need to book your ticket here) but, as usual, we will be asking for donations to a good cause in lieu of an admission fee.

This year, we are asking Retoxstockers to help us support the fundraising effort for a community in Uganda whose children are going hungry and have lost out on education because of COVID-19.

How we got involved: our friends in the Gurt Lush Choir and Bristol Man Chorus have been raising money for a project set up by Gurt Lush Choir member Judy Atkinson to establish schools and facilities for children living in extreme poverty in Uganda.

Their fundraisers have helped build a school in Masindi, pay for a teacher and to launch GURT LUSH BREAKFAST PROGRAMME at another school, Mwisi Primary, Kabale, where children were too weak and hungry to learn. It had a huge impact – every term, £450 was feeding 300 children a mug of porridge every day. Below - children at Mwisi school

They have also built and equipped the Virunga Masif community school 200 miles away, for children of the Batwa pygmy community who had become marginalised and destitute after being evicted from their forest homelands when the government set up Mahinga Gorilla National park. The project also helped the community build a water tank and grow potatoes so they don’t always have to beg. The school opened in February 2020.

But the pandemic hit the schools and communities hard. These children and their families urgently need our support. Please help us to support these children and give them food, a community school and a future.

WHAT YOUR FUNDS WILL BUY (100% of all money collected will go to help maintain the Breakfast Programmes and feed the children)

£3 Buys 1 pair of croc shoes to prevent jiggers (we need 55 pairs)

£5 Feeds 55 children at Virunga Masif school their daily mug of porridge

£12 Feeds 300 children at Mwisi school for a day

£20 Pays for the nightwatchman at Virunga for 1 month

£25 Firewood for a month to cook the daily meal

£30 One month’s salary for the cook for Virunga school

£40 Teacher salary for a month