TATTOO artists put their inking hats on to raise thousands of pounds for Manorlands.

Staff at the Mandala Tattoo studio came up with special designs to enable them to raise money for the Oxenhope hospice.

They inked the images onto various parts of customers’ bodies in return for donations.

The staff carried out 98 tattoos during the day and brought in £2,620 for Manorlands.

Those taking part included artists Terry Green and Naomi Jaques, junior artists Jennie Trowbridge and Matt Greenwood, artist and owner Keith Towler, manager and owner Jane Towler, body piercer Becca Owen, and tattoo removal and laser aesthetics specialist Jayne Lockwood.

The event was held as a spin-off from the Manorfest concert, organised by Wayne Jackson, which featured heavy metal bands playing in aid of the hospice.

Jane said: “The event at the Mandala studio was a huge success. We opened the doors at 9.30am and had around 30 people already queuing up.

“The queue didn’t go down all day and we had wonderful customers waiting for up to 2 hours for their tattoos. 2 hours for their tattoos.

“Our piercer Becca of Owzone Body Piercing donated £5 from each piercing with a total of £110 donated to Manorlands.”

Customers and local businesses donated raffle prizes, and Keighley company Oakleys Grill and Pizzeria provided cakes and pizzas.

Jane said and I was still offering the tattoo designs for another week for people could not make it on the day, and would still be accepting donations to Manorlands during that time.

She added: “We will hand the money to Manorlands along with Wayne Jackson’s proceeds after Manorfest. We would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone involved in the tattoo day.

“These included our team and volunteers who worked so hard on the day, Kath from Bronte Bars & Events for putting on the bar for the day, everybody who donated vouchers, gifts and food.

“And of course we want to thank all the wonderful customers who waited so patiently for their tattoos. We couldn’t have done it without all this support. The event was so successful that we plan to run it again next year, over two days.”

Attractions during the tattoo day included a selfie booth and a social media raffle

Mandala originally planned to offer four special tattoos, but all its staff ended up creating designs and the studio finally had more than 24 customers to choose from.

Manorfest was held on May 18 in Keighley and featured bands from across the UK including Orange Goblin, Phil Campbell, Memoriam, Sellsword, Alunah, Ironrat, Hollow Earth and Slowtorch.

Manorfest made its debut last year in 2017 at Victoria Hall and was billed as the greatest-ever line-up of international, national and local talent ever to play Keighley.

Headliners at the premiere gig were Swedish rockers Grand Magus, playing straight after their world tour, and Memoriam and Valafar who returned in 2018.

Manor Fest was born out of DioFest, a music event held in 2014 and 2015 to honour internationally renowned musician Ronnie James Dio on the anniversary of his death from cancer.

The events, which started at the Exchange Arts Centre in Keighley, raised £4,000 each year to fight cancer, with tickets selling out before the event and a long waiting list of bands eager to give their time and talents.

As a result, organisers moved to Victoria Hall, with its greatly-increased crowd capacity and a chance to recruit bigger bands.

Memoriam, who last weekend played for the third year running, boasted an “authentic, raw flood of old school Death Metal destruction”.