By Brian Gleeson

A CHANCE meeting by holidaymakers on a cruise ship has resulted in Great North Air Ambulance and the Redcar lifeboat service each receiving a donation of £2,886.26.

Neil Craggs, of Bike Scene in Guisborough, was on a cruise holiday with his wife in the middle of the Atlantic when they went to watch a concert on board given by violinist, Craig Owen. During the show, Mr Owen told the audience that he was “from a little market town called Guisborough” and later Mr and Mrs Craggs met Mr Owen for a chat about the coincidence.
Two years later, Mr Craggs’ sister was Mayor of Redcar and to assist in her charity, they contacted Mr Owen and he starred at a concert in the town’s Bellamy Pavilion to raise more than £2,000 for charity.
Since then Mr Craggs had been asked to arrange another concert and eventually decided to organise a larger event to benefit the GNAA and the RNLI. His daughter, Jane Raif, a partner in the Bike Scene business, suggested the Princess Alexandra Auditorium at Yarm School.
Mr Craggs said: “We had a look at it and realised what a fantastic venue it is and decided to hold a concert there, especially as it could hold a lot more people and therefore could raise more money for charity. The hardest part was selling the tickets.”
Ms Raif said: “After the first concert for the mayor’s charity, I also went on a cruise and said wouldn’t it be brilliant if Craig was playing on our ship, but he wasn’t listed for our dates on the ship.
“We went to the first presentation of what was going to be on the ship that week and, lo and behold, they announced that they had got this amazing violinist joining the ship later in the week, who was Craig Owen.”
The Classical Pops Spectacular concert was held on February 7 and was also attended by British rhythmic gymnast Francesca Jones, who won a gold medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, performing to Mr Owen’s recording of Sway.
As a result the event raised £5,772.52 to be divided equally between the GNAA and the RNLI.
This week Mr Craggs presented David Lax, representing the GNAA, with a cheque for £2,886.26, at the Bike Scene shop.
Mr Lax said: “We think it’s excellent. I mean to put on a concert that size.
“We went to the concert and it was really excellent. Craig Owen is a performer and a great violinist as well.
“He moved amongst the audience playing his violin. It was quite something.”
The following Sunday, Mr Craggs handed a cheque for the same amount to RNLI Redcar lifeboat management group chairman, Ian Readman, at the lifeboat station, with the complete crew in attendance.

Craig Owen

Craig Owen was born in Guisborough and started playing the violin at the age of six. He was discovered by record producer Pete Waterman, leading to a record deal with Universal/Decca Classics and a No 1 album, Duel, in the UK Classical Charts.
He has featured on Classic FM performing his compositions Amor and Song for Hong Kong for solo violin, followed by a series of concerts at the Cultural Centre with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.
He is in high demand as a guest entertainer on cruise lines.