Caroline Flack’s life celebrated at third annual Flackstock festival, at Englefield House, to raise money and awareness of mental health charities Samaritans, Chose Love, Charlie Waller Trust and Mind
Picture special: Please scroll right to the bottom to see all of the photos from Flackstock 2024.
An emotional Olly Murs was the star of the evening as thousands of people came together to celebrate the life of TV presenter Caroline Flack last night (Monday).
And the main message of the evening was - you are not alone, speak to someone if you need help.
Flackstock, held at the Englefield Estate, is now in its third year and has so far raised more than £500,000 for mental health charities.
It is an intimate day-long festival to celebrate Caroline’s life with comedy, dance and music and is organised by Caroline’s mother, Christine, and sister, Jody, along with her friends Natalie Pinkham, Dawn O’Porter, Anna Blue, Sarah Tyekiff, Liz Holmwood and Leigh and Jill Francis.
The presenter died by suicide in February 2020 at the age of 40.
This year Olly Murs – who has closed the show for the past two years - headlined the event with an hour long set of his hits, including his rendition of Sweet Caroline.
Christine Flack, told Newburytoday that the main point of the event was to raise awareness of the mental health support that was out there and available to anyone and everyone.
“It’s an amazing reaction from people who just loved her [Caroline],” she added.
“Thank you to the friends who put it on, to Englefield House and to the stars that come every year.”
Dawn O’Porter, Caroline’s friend and one of the organisers, said: “Today’s been amazing and as usual you have these euphoric moments at Flackstock, then you’ll find yourself in child’s pose in floods of tears, because the reason we’re here is just so upsetting.
“And yet being in a position for us all to keep Caroline’s memory alive is so incredible that I just feel overwhelming grateful that we have this opportunity and people come.
“Mental health awareness is so important. What we do here is take the darkness out of it and say, that awful thing happened but let’s not let the people left behind feel shame and let’s celebrate the amazing life that we lost.
“When people talk to me like Caroline is a tragedy that doesn’t track with me, because she wasn’t. She was joyful and her inner voice was what she battled with, but what she put out into the world was incredibly positive and such a bright spirit and so we get to celebrate that here.
“I hope it makes people watching who might be feeling that way, or who lost someone that way, tap into the bright spirit more and remember people fondly rather than the darkness.”
Other famous faces who took to the stage to sing were Tom Walker, Chesney Hawkes and All Saints star Shaznay Lewis.
Denise van Outen and Gok Wan were also on the decks, while everyone’s favourite fitness guru, Joe Wicks took to the stage – joined by a group of colourful Wookiees – for a 20-minute workout, with a finale to Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’.
He reminded everyone that it was so important for your mental health to do regular exercise.
Actor Chris O’Dowd told Newburytoday: “To me it’s very interesting as a festival because it’s the only festival where we talk about grief, which is something we go through every day.
“It’s an important festival because it deals more with people dealing with the sadder part of life, while trying to celebrate the music, and the fun and the craic.”
Money raised from Flackstock 2024 will once again be split equally between Choose Love, Mind, Samaritans and Newbury-based charity, Charlie Waller Trust.
The trust was set up by the Waller family after Charlie Waller took his own life and it works to support children and young people’s mental health.
Dr Hannah Vickery, its CEO, said they had seen hundreds of people getting involved in their musical hugs to highlight how music can lift your mood, postcards to reach out and connect with others, and taking away leaflets, highlighting the different resources they have for young people and their families and carers.
“We know so many children and young people are struggling at the moment; the prevalence rates are incredibly high, so lots of people have been telling us that and thinking about how we can best support the systems around children and young people because that’s where we can make the most difference,” she added.
“If we can help families know how to support young people who are having a tough time; if we can help teachers…if we can get into the community and school spaces and families, then we can support the infrastructure around children and young people.
“We are trying to create cultures around children and young people that promote positive mental health.
“It’s been great; we’ve had a really busy stand and hopefully it will give us some more opportunity, with the funds we’ve raised thanks to Flackstock to help more young people.”
Chris Taylor, who appeared on the last Love Island series that Caroline worked on, said: “It’s genuinely important to remember Caroline in a positive light, because she gave so much life to the world.
“She was absolutely lovely and it’s important that she’s remembered in the way she was and what she did.”
Other highlights on the stage last night included a ‘Carrie-oke’, where Carol Decker sang China in Your Hand; a portable silent disco; glitter face paints; Reading-based Sport in Mind events and games; and a number of food and drink outlets.
But the longest queue of the night? For the free McDonald’s chips of course!
Anyone seeking support can contact the following organisations:
Eight Bells for Mental Health: www.eightbellsnewbury.co.uk – call 07387 962220 – email coordinator@eightbellsnewbury.co.uk
You can visit www.recoveryinmind.org and find a number of resources to help you look after your mental health.
Mental Health Crisis Team – call if you need urgent help, but it’s not an emergency 0300 365 0300 or 0300 365 9999
Sane Line – www.sane.org.uk – call 0300 304 7000
Childline: www.childline.org.uk – 0800 1111
Mind: www.mind.org.uk – 0300 123 3393 or text 86463
The Samaritans: www.samaritans.org – call 116 123 – email jo@samaritans.org
