Saturday afternoon shoppers were entertained throughout the afternoon by guitarists, singers, poets and whistle players, after a charity filled Strand Street with music.

Organised in aid of the Dreamcatcher Appeal, the ’Battle of the Buskers’ took place between Marks and Spencer and The Strand Shopping centre, and saw 12 different musicians and poets take part through out the afternoon, playing a range of music and raising as much money as they could within a six-hour period.

The music varied in styles, from familiar cover songs, to atmospheric and imaginative layered tunes from guitarist and composer Sy Hurst, and from folk music from a team of whistle players to performance poetry from Jackie Morrey-Grace.

Their efforts ended up raising more than £450 for the charity appeal.

James Quayle organised the event, and said that he was happy to bring a bit of music and life to the street.

’We have had a wonderful response, and today we have had a whole selection of people playing, from poets to people playing penny whistles, singers and guitarists from the young to the old, and played throughout the day,’ said James.

’You don’t get that much live music out on the streets, and due to regulations, you only ever really get one busker on the street at one time, so it is good to have lots of people about.

’We have had 12 people today. Some played for half an hour, some for the whole day, and hopefully in the future we’ll be able to do more events where we include as many performers as possible.

’The live music scene on the island is really buzzing at the grass roots level, and it’s good to try and help people to stand on a stage.’

by Mike Wade

Twitter:@iomnewspapers