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There's Magic in the Air - Badly Drawn Boy, Everything Everything and Justin Moorhouse in Nov 2011 Manchester fundraiser

Posted: 12 years ago
Badly Drawn Boy

All too often, we forget how fortunate most of us are - iPhones, iPads, iShuffle, iThisandthat - in fact, at the touch of a button, we can pretty much get what we want, when we want without suffering too much inconvenience. For one little girl in Exeter though, life hasn't been too easy.

Billie Bainbridge is four years old and suffers from a relatively rare and inoperable condition, brain stem cancer, yet her parents are determined that she should undergo pioneering treatment in the US as soon as possible. Aside from tumour-shrinking radiotherapy in London, the treatment won't unfortunately 'zap' the problem - the new American surgery might. But, at over £200k, treatment doesn't come cheap and the family are currently just shy of £100k (as of September) of the cost. Various fundraising feats have raised most of the money, including the sale of a guitar kindly donated by Radiohead (£9k) and various other eBay sales and donations to her charity website - it's here at www.billiebutterflyfund.org where you can read her full story - but there is more money to raise.

Here's where Manchester's Comedy Store comes in. On Monday 28th November, an all-star line-up of musicians and comedians will be participating in a fundraising event. Called "Magic in the Air", the event is named after a song by one of the key performers on the night, Badly Drawn Boy, and all money raised will go to the Billie Butterfly Fund and Billie's treatment.

Everything Everything will also be appearing, alongside I Am Kloot and ably hosted by comedian, Justin Moorhouse and tickets are still available, priced at a very reasonable £19.50 (and a small fee). It's a cracking line-up and a great cause, so if you're in the Manchester area on Monday week, grab your tickets now before they sell out - you might make Billie's Christmas a bit more special!

Update: Peter Kay to host fund-raising nights in Blackpool!

It has just been announced that Bolton's finest comedian, Peter Kay, will be hosting two special fund-raising nights at the Blackpool Opera House in aid of the Billie Butterfly Fund on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th November.

Tickets for these two dates go on sale just a few days before-hand on Monday 21st at 10AM, costing £35 per night - check below for availability.

Paul Pledger