Rocket man Elton to star at Stoke Park

Sir Elton John CBE will be belting it out at classy Buckinghamshire venue Stoke Park in 2014…

The rock legend will be giving a live solo performance at the historic Stoke Park next summer to help young Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls who are striving to achieve their sporting ambitions.

At this intimate summer concert for just 5,700 people SportsAid is hoping to raise £500,000 to create a new athlete fund with Sir Elton John, whose support for the charity dates back to its founding years in the late 1970s.

SportsAid will use the fund in the run up to and beyond the Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games to help aspiring young sportsmen and women throughout the UK to make it through the critical and often very difficult early years of their careers.

“I am so excited to be part of this landmark event for SportsAid and to be helping the young, aspiring sports stars of the future,” said Sir Elton John, who as one of the world’s most successful artists still describes sport as one of his great passions after music – recently co-founding Rocket Sports Management and famously a lifelong Watford FC fan.

“I thought the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games were incredible and I was very moved by the ‘inspire a generation’ motto that accompanied it,” he added. “The Games really brought home to me the sacrifices and enormous challenges that young people face to reach the highest level in sport – and from such an early age too. Their ambition and courage is a huge source of inspiration to me and I know we can make a big difference to their lives by setting up this new fund.”

At London 2012 almost two-thirds of the British team were former recipients of SportsAid’s support, winning 20 of Team GB’s 29 gold medals and 27 of ParalympicsGB’s 34 gold medals.

Welcoming the exciting news, British sporting legend Sir Steve Redgrave said, “This is just amazing. It will have a huge impact on young and aspiring sports people. They work so hard and their efforts often go unnoticed – I know from personal experience what a difference support from SportsAid can make. To have a global superstar like Sir Elton John backing the next generation is incredible.”

Tickets for the all-seater, reserved seating event – which will be on Saturday 28 June 2014 in the exquisite gardens and beautiful setting of Stoke Park in Buckinghamshire – start at £75 (subject to availability) and are on sale from Ticketmaster from today, with hospitality packages available direct from SportsAid.

Thanks to the generous support of Sir Elton John and Stoke Park all the proceeds from the concert will go to SportsAid to support the next generation of British athletes.