WITH a special reduced rate for locals, people are being advised to book their tickets for the Atomic Kitten and Lulu gig in Simmons Park on November 17 as soon as possible.

Tickets, priced at £12.50 for people living in the EX20 postcode or TQ13 (Chagford only) area, are now on sale locally from Donalds, Millennium Music, the Fountain Hotel, Okehampton Times, Ockment Centre or Tuit Centre at Lewdown.

The big top in Simmons Park, which is being used during the day time for a community event by the Okehampton Market and Coastal Towns Initiative (see page 1), has a capacity of 10,000, but tickets are already selling well from the national box office which went on line a week ago.

The ticket price without the local discount is £18 and there is a £1.20 booking charge if you buy from the box office.

Okehampton FirstAid, a charity set up to help regenerate the community following the foot and mouth crisis, is behind this exciting event which will see these two top acts appearing in Okehampton for the first time.

FirstAid co-ordinator Susanne Watt said the ticket price for locals was 'to the knuckle'.

'We took on board what people said about ticket prices for the music day we held in August,' she said. 'The cost is as low as we can go, bearing in mind this is a high calibre event and the acts are not cheap.'

Like the music day, which saw Simmons Park host the English Symphony Orchestra and an out of this world firework display plus a trio of 60s bands, the Wurzels and the London Community Gospel Choir, production, sound and lighting will be provided by Reality Check from Shepton Mallett.

Private sponsors are helping with the funding of the event but Susanne stressed that the more tickets that are sold the more that can be ploughed back into the community.

She hopes that in time FirstAid will be able to assist with the matched funding required for projects under the Market and Coastal Town Initiative.

This is the third concert organised by the charity in a 12-month calendar of events which it hopes will see Okehampton grow as a music, arts and leisure centre.

Coaches are being laid on from Hatherleigh, Tavistock, Launceston, Torrington, Barnstaple, Bideford, Plymouth, Exeter, Tiverton, Newton Abbott and Torquay — contact the box office on 08705 321321 for details.

For more information about the event contact the information line on 07790 110630 (8am-8pm Mon-Sat.)