No More Durty Water, a Portsmouth charity raising funds for clean water projects in Africa and India, is holding a brand new event; the Durty Sunday Social on Sunday 23 October 2022.

Durty Sunday Social will bring local artists, creatives, performers and DJs together with independent traders, businesses and venues on Albert Road and Highland Road for a day of free events.

There’ll be a chance to support local makers and artists at the art fair and craft market in the Wedgewood Rooms, supported by Crafts in The Tower. Here you can browse and buy everything from portraits and plants to jewellery and candles between 11am and 4pm. You can also pick up a famous No More Durty Water t-shirt for a minimum donation of £5 – but be quick, there are only enough for the first 50 people in the venue. My Friendly Planet will be offering free face painting and mask making workshops for children, while parents browse the stalls.

You’ll find creativity blooming throughout Albert Road all day with exhibitions of local artists at both The Royal Albert pub and The Corner Collective.

The live music on offer ranges from the silky-smooth Rat Pack vocals of Malc De Reding (in The Kings Theatre from 2.30pm) to the post punk guitars of Weekend Offender Records (in the Fifth Hants pub from 5pm), via the soulful funk of Vanchango in the newly refurbished The Vaults bar. The Front Room brings its (fire) brand of spoken word performance to Hunter Gatherer Coffee from 3.30pm with the likes of Isle of Wight Donna, local author Alison Habens, Janet Ayers of the Southsea Community Choir and poet Sue Spiers, plus acoustic music from Just Lucy and Million Pebble Beach, all compered by Sam Cox the Portsmouth Poet Laureate.

Southsea’s DJ scene is well represented with sets from No More Durty Water honcho George Spence, Fishtank resident Jonty and Mark James from Soul 45 offering chilled and funky grooves in the Edge of The Wedge, the Nothing Ventured Vinyl residents battling it out in the shop and Pork Soda bring their own brand of craziness to Back To The Belgrave.

Everyone involved in the Durty Sunday Social – whether artist, trader, performer or venue – share the same goals; to celebrate the Albert Road area, raise money for clean water projects and have some fun on an autumn Sunday.

Event organiser Kelly explains how the event evolved: “We wanted to re-boot No More Durty Water post-Covid, because we had been unable to hold fundraising events. Crafts in the Tower has also been dormant so we decided to get together to raise funds by putting on an art fair, which The Wedgewood Rooms very kindly agreed to host. I live just off Albert Road and sell my artwork in Dress Code, so I’m aware that footfall isn’t great and people are feeling the pinch. We came up with the idea of asking local traders for a reasonable donation in return for us organising and marketing an event to promote the whole road in the run up to Christmas.”

“It just escalated and we’ve been delighted with the generosity and community spirit of local traders, venues and creatives and how they’ve got behind the idea. We’ve nearly hit our fundraising target and now we want people to come out, get together and have some fun on the day!”

George Spence, Chairman of the Trustees of No More Durty Water spoke about the importance of the event: “The charity was founded by DJ Monkey P, who brought people together with his music and endless enthusiasm for fund-raising for the cause. He was gone too soon, but he left us with the drive to keep working to relieve water poverty and keep building connections in the community. The Durty Sunday Social does all of this and more and we’re very excited to see the turnout on the day. We’ve already raised £1200 towards sources of clean water that will transform lives. I’d like to thank every performer, trader, artist shop and venue for their generous support.”

All activities and venues are free to enter and participate but a small donation to No More Durty Water will be gratefully received.

Website: nomoredurtywater.org
Facebook: @nomoredurtywater
Twitter: @n_m_d_w
Instagram: @no_more_durty_water