Fundraiser in memory of Rainy Boy Sleep

A fundraiser for Pieta House will be held in March in memory of a popular musician who passed away last year.
Stevie Martin, a.k.a Rainy Boy Sleep.Stevie Martin, a.k.a Rainy Boy Sleep.
Stevie Martin, a.k.a Rainy Boy Sleep.

A musical celebration of Stevie Martin will be held in the Nerve Centre on March 4, and will feature a host of bands from across the north.

The event has been organised by Stevie’s mother Marina and his friend Eilish Kelly. Speaking about the fundraiser, Eilish said: “We wanted to pull together something meaningful and purposeful in Stevie’s name. Stevie was an active supporter of Pieta house - even taking part in their annual Darkness into Light walk just back in May 2016.

“Pieta offer such an important service that is sadly becoming more of a necessity in Northern Ireland. They are expanding their services to the North West, to Letterkenny later on this year and they rely heavily on fundraisers to keep the service going.

“It seemed the natural choice to support Pieta through music as it was the biggest part of Stevie’s life. The Nerve Centre were on board straight away, the guys there knew and admired Stevie too,” she said.

Eilish, an events graduate, said the team at the Nerve Centre have been on hand to help with the organisation of the event. “It’s a venue which holds particular significance as Stevie would have went to see many live bands there and on several occasions played himself.

“Its being held on March 4, a week exactly before what would have been Stevie’s 30th birthday. This was intentional as we want to celebrate his life the way he would have wanted, with a pint and a good band and even better company.

“It wasn’t hard to recruit the amazing bands that we have; they were happy to help the cause immediately. The majority of the bands are from Derry as this is where Stevie called home,” she said.

Tickets are £12 and are available from the Nerve Centre.