By Monica Jones
If you were in Shepperton one Saturday in late August, you might well have heard funky music. You might also have seen some of the locals swap usual day wear for flower bands, gaudy dresses and snazzy trousers. And you might have wondered what on earth was go-ing on! Those in the know have been eagerly securing their tickets to Shepperton’s Laugh-ing Stock as soon as they became available. This year I was so pleased to go myself. Laughing Stock, a ‘hippy’ music festival, has become a Shepperton institution. This fabu-lous event is put on by Linda Jagger and her family and a lot of hard-working helpers. The first event was some 15 years ago and started as a gathering in the garden “a bunch of crazy hippies having fun and dancing” as Linda describes it! Coincidentally I watched part of the event that year from Desborough Island opposite. I couldn’t quite understand what someone was doing on the roof, playing God Save the Queen on electric guitar!! Little did I know I was witnessing history! It was certain-ly fun. Those attending were asked to make a donation to charity.
Since those early days, Laughing Stock has raised over a staggering £120,000 of much needed funds for various charities including the Woking and Sam Beare Hospice, a charity very close to Linda’s heart. They cared for her wonderful dad, Arthur, at home, towards the end of his life and nothing was ever too much trouble for the hospice team that visited Arthur daily. The hospice provides holistic care that is designed to cater for patients’ physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs. It may surprise you to know that de-spite a 20 bed state of the art facility in Wo-king, 80% of care given by the WSBH is at home. Dame Deborah James, better known as “Bowelbabe”, who sadly very recently passed away, was also cared for at her mother’s home by WSBH and wanted to draw attention to the incredible work the charity provides. They offer dignity in dying, surely something we should all expect, but alas, often don’t get. Hayley Fellows, a clinical nurse at the hospice says “it is a privilege to be able to ensure my patients can live well and die with dignity and in peace”. Hospices rely heavily on charitable donations so the annual dona-tion from the Laughing Stock event is very much needed and appreciated. Laughing Stock 2022 raised nearly £24,000 for the hos-pice and the total amount raised by Laughing Stock for the hospice stands at £90,000. Lin-da added “we are so grateful and are full of thanks to all involved; our helpers, neigh-bours, suppliers, performers and most im-portantly our crazy hippy guests!”
Linda and her family have music running in their veins and love performing. Her band, the JJ Band along with top local bands pro-vide the live music entertainment throughout the day. The performances were fantastic, the vibe was one of great happiness and camara-derie and the fact we knew that this was all contributing to such a great cause made for an even better day.
If you’ve been touched by the work of the hospice movement, or would like to get in-volved in fundraising for such a great cause, please take a look at their website www.wsbhopsices.co.uk for further details on up and coming fund raising events. There are all sorts of fun things to get involved with and they are also running a FREE will writing service from the 26th September to the 28th October. More information can be found here https://wsbhospices.co.uk/news/wills