Heckmondwike town centre will be humming and strumming once again tomorrow as the 11th Heckyfest gets going for ten hours of non-stop live music on two stages with lots of lovely sunshine.

Performers and bands from Bradford, Batley, Dewsbury, Holmfirth and Halifax are among the 18 acts lined up by enterprising concert organiser Donal O’Driscoll.

He described himself as a “passionate Irish Yorkshireman” managing to attract some of the finest acts West Yorkshire has to offer including Bradford’s Casanova Down.

Described by one artist last year as ‘Glastonbury in a village’, the Heckyfest is the culmination of a season of monthly Friday night acoustic and electric shows organised by Donal O’Driscoll and Pete Earnshaw respectively, and staged at the tidy town’s Comrades Club on Regent Street.

With two stages in the park Donal presents the festival in a Jools Holland style going from stage to stage so the live music is literally non-stop.

He said: “Last year over 1,500 people ended up basking in the summer sun in the town centre Green Park for more than ten hours and this Saturday sees a repeat with 14 of the 18 bands appearing for the first time. You’d be well advised to experience this special free festival before it gets too popular. It starts 12 noon right in the heart of Heckmondwike. Bring a camping chair – and plenty of sun blocker.”

So what drives the man to start all this from nothing? He said: “I’d been to many major festivals in the 70s and 80s and eventually got fed up of going due to expensive warm beer and food and smelly toilets. I wanted to stop having to go to expensive festivals a long way away and wasn’t prepared to keep going to the coast to see quality acts.

“So in 2006 I had the local park re-designed by the council and started putting on festivals in my home town. It’s that simple.”

Those 14 new acts mentioned by Donal include: from Heckmondwike Julian Socha, String Viillains and two cover bands Gods of Fortune and, finishing the festival, Flaming Dragon. Others are Rum Doodle, Lo-Fi 3, The Blind Dead McJones Band and The Sailmakers from Leeds; Dirty Vinyls from Liversedge; Fat Henry and Eric The Viaduct from Dewsbury; Alex Quinn and The Man In The Street from Holmfirth; Jade Helliwell from Batley; Bag of Tricks and Casanova Down from Bradford; Strung To The Sky from Pontefract, The Mavis Seed from Birstall and City of Lights from Halifax. The festival in Green Park has a scheduled finishing time at 10pm. The Blind Dead McJones Band will then be playing again a short distance away at The Swan in Liversedge.

l Visit crownoflights.org.uk.