Viva Blackpool customers raise £4,000 to help staff with no income under coronavirus lockdown

Blackpool is one of the worst hit towns for seeing a jump in universal credit claims since the lockdown cost people their jobs and jobs search firm Adzuna said that the hospitality sector is the biggest casualty in the UK job market, losing 85 per cent of jobs over the past 14 weeks.

It said hospitality is the UK’s fourth-largest industry in the UK and has lost 43,764 jobs over the period.

One visitor favourite which has had to shut its doors is showbar Viva Blackpool. Bosses Martin Heywood and Leye D Johns have had to put 29 staff members onto the government supported job retention scheme.

But many of the people they work with simply do not qualify for the Government's coronavirus help and so the venue has stepped in to help with a novel fund-raising idea.

Martin Heywood explained. “When the government announced support, it came as a big relief to our team – many of whom were just re-starting their employment with us as we built up to the seasonal months. However our cast and crew tend to be freelance.

“We have different situations for each cast/crew member. Some of whom are new to self- employment and haven’t had to submit a tax return yet, so didn’t receive any grant payment from the government.

"Others are about to become parents and would be relying on their increased seasonal show earnings as well as savings to prepare for their new arrival. It really must be stressful to be put in this situation and to see help pass you by – especially when our cast have performed in many charity shows at the venue without pay, and have been known for going the extra mile to give our guests a memorable visit to Viva.”

So the venue turned to its loyal customer to appeal for fundraising, offering a series of ‘rewards’ to be delivered in the future by the venue in return for donations starting at just £10- a kind of "pay it forwards" scheme.

Venue show host and entertainments manager Leye D Johns added “We had been on a television programme a few years ago which centred around Crowdfunding, and what we were very aware of was not to just ask for donations and expect something for nothing – so we decided that the venue

would provide rewards so that anyone who helped us out actually got something for their money in a ‘Pay It Forwards’ type appeal.

"We didn’t know what to expect, but we ended up raising over £4,000 though!”

The biggest single donation was a £1500 from Viva regular Sharon McDonald who ‘bought’ a performance from the venues ‘Oh What A Nite!’ show – so will be enjoying a show with Viva’s own Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons tribute act The Jersey Beats at a suitable venue of her choice.

As well as the ‘rewards’ the venue setup a paid streaming service with access to recordings of past shows which topped the campaign up with over £600.

Martin added “The money has now been received today and distributed to 14 of our cast and crew. We’re extremely thankful to our loyal customers who have donated, and I’m sure I speak on behalf of our cast and crew to let them know that we can’t wait to be back on stage with a special mention of thanks to those who see us through the good times and the bad.”