A SPECIAL concert in aid of Birkenhead's food banks will take place next week.

Organised by, and featuring veteran Oxton-based singer/songwriter Dean Johnson, it will be staged at West Kirby Arts Centre a week on Saturday, December 1.

The performance will be preceded with a new song The Other Side, highlighting the plight of many Wirral residents struggling with hunger on a daily basis.

Admission to the gig is via a donation of food and toiletries that will be donated to the Neo Community in Rock Ferry, under the auspices of Frank Field's 'Feed Birkenhead' initiative.

The project is a coalition of community groups, churches and other organisations working together to eliminate hunger in Birkenhead.

A lot of the food supplied to the project has been sourced by Rock Ferry based 'Neo Community' which takes surplus food from supermarkets.

Speaking ahead of next week's Dean - a stalwart of the local music scene since the 1970s - said: "My family's roots are in the north of the town and in the '30s and '40s they depended on and were very grateful to the various missions that helped to feed and clothe the poorest of the area.

"The concert is taking place in West Kirby, which might seem an affluent location, but the arts centre there has become my second home this year, presenting six of my live shows.

"The owner Tony Woof reminds me of the great venue owners of the 1960s, like Bill Graham, who ran the legendary Fillmore and Winterland halls in San Francisco.

"He has virtually let me stage anything I wanted.

"The centre is very community minded, and this is an annual food bank benefit. I'm proud to have been asked to play it."

The performance, at West Kirby Arts Centre in Brookfield Gardens, West Kirby, starts at 7.45pm. Doors open at 7pm.

Book your seat at www.westkirbyartscentre.org.uk