Bollocks to Poverty supporter Beccy Taylor was a Reading festival regular. 

She tragically died in a car accident last year, aged 18. 

Her friends and family decided to celebrate her life with a Bollocks to Poverty gig in her home town of Northampton which took place in January 2009. 

Together they raised an amazing £11,000 for ActionAid, which right now is being used to provide clean water for school children in Sierra Leone and Uganda. 

Her friend Freddie Harrison has written this moving piece about inspirational Beccy and her Bollocks to Poverty gig.

As a close friend of Beccy’s for many years, I was fortunate enough to experience her many facets that made her the 18 year-old girl who was loved and adored by friends and family alike.

Beccy’s life may have been short, but the extent of support shown through the turnout at ‘Beccy Says Bollocks To Poverty’ is proof alone of the amount of people she touched with that unique and beautiful personality of hers.

Beccy was, is, and will always be cherished as a close friend by myself, and I know I’m not alone.

Her lively, caring, fun-loving, trusting, and overall unique personality was a reassurance to me at the worst of times, and made her a brilliant person to laugh with at the best of times.

No single event is more vivid in my memory than the times I spent with Beccy at Reading Festival in 2007 and 2008.

It’s always difficult to describe such a unique and fascinating character in a few words, and believe me, I’ve been pondering it for months, but ‘free spirit’ is a close as I’ll ever get.

In that sense Beccy always seemed in her element at Reading festival – but she never lost sight of looking out for those less fortunate than her, and subsequently she always spent time saying, “Bollocks to Poverty” in the ActionAid tent.

In September 2008, Beccy’s life was tragically cut short when she was involved in a car accident near Northampton, but her legacy continued, and will continue, thanks to those who put the time and effort into the ‘Beccy Says Bollocks To Poverty’ event.

Not long after I started university, I was speaking to Chris and Nicole (Beccy’s parents) when they announced that Beccy would have wanted a party with her friends and her favourite bands to celebrate her life.

I offered to help, and at the time, I never could have predicted the success of this event which started as an idea in the minds of a few, and ended as a reality in the lives of the hundreds who came along and got involved.

Being just shy of 150 miles away from Northampton in sunny Bournemouth my input into the organising of ‘Beccy Says Bollocks To Poverty’ was somewhat limited, but when I came home for Christmas I was astounded at the time and effort that had gone into the organisation.

Chris and Nicole, along with Beccy’s brother and sister, Nick and Jess, and friends had got Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly on-board as well as local acts such as the New Cassettes.

£11,000 later and Beccy’s gig had raised the most money from a single Bollocks to Poverty event for ActionAid – ever.

The money will mean children in Sierra Leone and Uganda benefit from clean drinking water for years to come.

A stellar achievement for Beccy’s family and friends who put their hearts and heads into making it happen.

But more importantly, a stellar achievement for Beccy – the girl with her heart in the right place who not only believed that ActionAid, but her herself, could make a difference.