A grassroots house music brand, local DJs, pubs turned into dancefloors and a community that keeps showing up – somewhere along the way, Dance Till Dawn has managed to raise more than £10,000 for local charities too.
The Kettering-born house and tech house brand has officially hit £10,427.03 raised in just over two years, a pretty special milestone for something that started simply because founder and DJ Reece Speechley wanted to create more for the local scene.
Dance Till Dawn launched in 2022 and has since grown through events across Kettering and the surrounding area, with a big focus on local DJs, accessible parties and making use of the spaces already sitting on their doorstep.
Its first charity fundraising came in August 2024, when a Dance Till Dawn event was used to raise money for Cransley Hospice following the death of Reece’s close friend Elliott Ward, who had received support from the charity.
What started as a way of using an existing Dance Till Dawn party to give something back ended up becoming part of the wider brand ethos.
“I don’t think I ever imagined when we did that first charity event that a couple of years later Dance Till Dawn would have raised more than £10,000,” Reece says.
“The best thing is that it hasn’t come from one huge event or one big donation. It’s come from people turning up, having a dance, supporting local DJs and venues and putting a few quid towards something that matters.”
And it’s that combination that makes the milestone particularly Fleckies.
At a time when towns across the UK have lost so many of their traditional nightlife spaces, Dance Till Dawn has taken a slightly different approach. Instead of waiting for another club to appear, the team has worked with existing pubs and bars to create temporary homes for dance music.
The Beeswing, the former Aura, Vintage Vault and The Wayfarers have all hosted events, giving DJs somewhere to play and local audiences somewhere to dance without automatically having to head for a bigger city.
Chelsea Marshall joined Reece behind Dance Till Dawn later in 2024, with the pair continuing to build the brand around that idea of creating something mutually beneficial for the local scene.
“We’ve lost so many of the places where people used to go out locally, but we haven’t lost the DJs, the music or the people who want to experience it,” Chelsea explains.
“When an event works, the DJs get a platform, people get a great day or night out on their doorstep, the venue gets a new audience and a strong day behind the bar, and we can raise money for an important local cause at the same time. We want it to be an ecosystem where everybody gets something from it.”
Local businesses have got behind a number of the events too, particularly at The Beeswing, where sponsorship has helped Dance Till Dawn push those fundraising totals even further.
More than anything, though, £10,000 is a pretty brilliant demonstration of what can grow around grassroots music.
It’s DJs giving their time. Venues opening their doors. Local businesses getting involved. People turning up and choosing to support something happening in their own town.
The music comes first, but community has always been one of the most important things built around it.
Dance Till Dawn returns to The Beeswing in Kettering on Saturday 31 October, with music running from 12pm into the night. Entry is £3 on the door, with profits once again going to Cransley Hospice, before an afterparty later that evening.
Ten grand raised. Plenty of local DJs supported. Plenty of dancefloors filled.
Not bad for a few parties in Kettering.
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