By Jenny Barwise

Last updated at 12:21, Friday, 18 January 2013

Tickets have gone on sale for a crucial concert which hopes to save Whitehaven’s Civic Hall from closure.

The Save The Civic all-day music event will take place on Good Friday – with local music lovers invited to show their support for the under-threat venue.

And yesterday details were revealed about how people can buy their tickets.

Whitehaven Civic Hall is currently “proposed for closure” under Copeland Council’s budget cuts, which will see it save £2.6m by 2015.

The council says it can no longer afford to subsidise the venue and proposes to withdraw all funding to managers North Country Leisure (NCL). This will result in the venue’s closure later this year unless a partner organisation can be found to run it without council subsidy.

This has led to event promoters The Mighty Boof, who have held many concerts in the venue over the years, to step up and take action.

They are calling for a show of support and say if the Civic closed there would be no ‘big music venue’ in the town.

They appealed earlier this month for bands and artists to get in touch to perform at the event over three stages.

And now it's time for the public to get behind the cause.

Josh Shepherd, from The Mighty Boof, said: “What we need now is a show of support and a push to make it more profitable to give it a fighting chance of staying open.

“We want people to come and support the Civic and show the council that there is no point in shutting it.”

Tickets cost £8 in advance from Threads, King Street, Whitehaven www.threads-clothing.com and from the Civic Hall or its website www.civichall.org.uk. They will be available on the door for £10.

The Civic is one a number of venues earmarked for closure as the council aims to save £2.6m by 2015. It is due to decide which ones could go in mid-February.

Mighty Boof will be organising the event free of charge as well as the artists who play. All of the profits made will go towards saving the threatened Civic Hall.

Bands and solo artists interested in performing are asked to email joshshepherd@mightyboofpromotions.com

First published at 12:17, Friday, 18 January 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk