A charity event is due to be held in Leek in memory of Marcus Birks, the local musician who sadly died of Coronavirus last year.

Leek Nub News reported previously how Marcus died aged 40 after being admitted to the intensive care unit at Royal Stoke University Hospital.

Marcus was in a group called The Cameleonz with his wife Lis, and a campaign was launched to get Marcus's music to chart in his memory.

People were asked to download their track "Should I Stay", with the aim of getting it to chart as high as possible in last week's UK singles chart.

At one point, the track reached number one on Amazon's best sellers list, and remained in their top 10 all week - a huge achievement by all who took part.

The song also received plays on radio and TV for the first time ever thanks to the campaign.

Now a charity event is being held at The Silk Mill in Leek to celebrate Marcus' life. The event will take place on 11th February from 7:30pm.

Tickets cost £10 for adults and £5 for children, and the money raised will go to the mental health charity Mind.

There will be a fancy dress theme of 1960s - 2000s for the event.

A spokesperson for The Silk Mill said: "Marcus' Siblings are organising a memorial ball to celebrate Marcus' beautiful life with all his loved ones and are kindly asking for donations to make this happen in memory of him.

"Sadly Marcus lost the fight to Covid in August 2021 which left his family devastated.

"We want this event to be massive and filled with all the love possible.

"All money that is raised will go to organisations to make this happen. The rest of the money will go to the Mind mental health charity."

For more information, visit The Silk Mill's Marcus Birks Charity Event page on Facebook.