Lead singer of iconic British band that launched career of Jools Holland set for return gig at Burnley's Church on the Street

Chris Difford played a one off gig at the charity in December and promised he would return for a full concert to perform some of he band's most famous chart topping hits, including Cool For Cats, Take Me I'm Yours and Up The Junction.

The concert will take place on Sunday, February 5th at 7pm and, as before, is on a first come first served basis with a donation on the door.

The singer offered to perform in Burnley after hearing about the sterling work of Pastor Mick Fleming at Church on the Street's dedicated hub in Hammerton Street which houses a food bank, counselling rooms for one-to-one sessions, a medical room, a cafe, and a main space that serves as a church.

Chris got in touch with COTs founder Pastor Mick Fleming after reading about the organisation and, as a Squeeze fan, Mick was thrilled.

Mick said: "He said he would send me a couple of tickets for a gig and he fulfilled that promise and I went to see him in Manchester with Kev Whittaker, one of our support workers, and we met Chris backstage where he made the pledge to come and perform for us at Church on the Street."

Church on the Street was founded in 2019 by Pastor Fleming and Mary and David Hirst. The COTS ministry would meet outside Burnley's town centre McDonalds to hand out food, drink, help and advice to those who needed it. Services soon expanded to include hot meals, clothing and food banks, recovery groups and funeral services, while opening a night shelter for the local homeless remained an overarching aim.

The opening of the hub saw that dream become a reality, all made possible by the hundreds of generous donations that flooded in following COTS' appearance on a BBC news feature. And in January last year the project hosted a visit from Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Chris Difford, the lead singer of Squeeze (centre) with Pastor Mick Fleming (left) and support worker Kev Whittaker backstage after a gig that Chris invited them too in Manchester. The singer is now coming to Burnley tomorrow (Wednesday, December 14th) to perform at Church on the Street