“I was the culprit who had the original idea. My aim is to get at least 2 tonnes of food this year”

We Shall Overcome was the brainchild of Stephen Goodall, a musician from Halton in Cheshire. We catch up with Stephen for his thoughts on how things are progressing.

What event are you involved in?

Well I was the culprit who had the original idea so I feel I’m involved in all the weekends events indirectly! But more directly I’m involved in organising six events in Halton, Cheshire.

Tell us about yourself

I’ve been a musician for 25 years always writing and performing my own material but over the last decade I’ve been more involved with promoting my own gigs but I will be dusting my guitar down for one of our shows. I work in power generation and am an active shop steward.

How did the orginial idea come about?

It was an inspirational late night Facebook chat. To give us all something positive to do in the wake of the election. I had the original idea, but with the hard work and ideas from Joe Solo, Matt Hill, Tony Wright and Jamie Bramwell it has spiralled into what we see today. My Facebook feed has never been so positive!

What inspires you or makes you hopeful?

I’ve been inspired by how fast the five of us can work from having an idea to actually making it happen. It’s amazing to think that the internet is our board room. Every single person in our movement (Almost 6000 the last time I checked) makes it easy to wake up each morning.

What are you most looking forward to about October 2-4?

The challenge of 6 venues in 3 days , a first for me. And the actual count up at the end. We did a food bank show last year and collected 306 kilos of food. My aim is to get at least 2 tonnes this year

Listen to Ste Goodall song ‘No more bikes in England’