Our Mission

Why create this project?
Royal Wootton Bassett has long been associated with military families being geographically close to RAF Lyneham, but more for more than four years repatriations have passed through the town's High Street. These repatriations ended in September 2011.

Royal Wootton Bassett is a thriving market town and our goal was to enable the vibrant, diverse and highly active community groups to work together to create an inspiring video single that will sell nationally and raise as much money for Military Charities as possible to create a long lasting project that will continue supporting families that have been affected by conflict.

Who are we supporting?
Wootton Bassett Rocks! has chosen four charities that provide support to families and soldiers that are affected by conflict. In particular the team wanted to continue to support bereaved children and families.

These charities, like many others, rely on donations to continue to do the amazing work that they do, day to day, in supporting injured soldiers and bereaved families. The charities we have chosen are SSAFA Forces Help, The Royal British Legion, The Undentable Trust and Combat Stress. Please see our Charities page for full details of these organisations.

The Single
It all started with the single, the first task was to find our band and main singers. So throughout the summer weeks of auditions took place until we found the perfect combination and Wootton Bassett Rocks! was born

The single uses local musicians, soloists, small groups and a large ensemble that involved people from across the community and a choral group made up of the best singers in town! The band was directed by Andy Pett of Riffs Bar - Music Pub of the Year 2010 at Greatfield, with most rehearsals also taking place there. The track was recorded, engineered and produced by music producer Richard Sutcliffe with the support of Real World Studios and Abbey Road.

The Music Video

The whole process was planned extremely carefully, with zone leaders and marshals responsible for specific sections of the High Street. Each section had activities, people, vehicles, colour,drama and excitement to coordinate - a big responsibility which was carried out brilliantly by the team.

The video took over four hours of rehearsals, walk-throughs, (a break for torrential rain) and lots of resetting until the film crew were satisfied that the continuous take down the High Street, with all groups in the right places at the right times, was perfect. 

It's a wrap!

The Cinema Preview Evening
We held a fantastic Exclusive Cinema Preview Evening at Empire Cinema Swindon for everyone who had been involved as well as their family and friends.  Mark Kenna our Director has created a fabulous 30 minute show (now the DVD) including footage from behind the scenes as well as more information from each of the charities. It was an extremely poignant evening and really bought home to everyone involved why we are doing this.

We hope to continue to raise funds through the combined sales of the Limited Edition DVD, corporate T-shirts and other memorabilia available from our online shop, as well as through downloads and text donations.