Dance memorial for Will raises money for CLAPA

December 19, 2024

Content Warning: This story contains references to the death of a young person born with a cleft. Please read at your own discretion and contact our Safeguarding Team if you have any concerns.

An electronic music memorial for Will Helstrip, a much-loved member of our community who tragically died two years ago, raised more than £3k for CLAPA.

The Vinyl Fantasy event was hosted by DJ William Daniel, who played seven hours of techno and trance music at Glasgow’s SWG3 warehouse venue. William was joined on the decks by Will’s dad Steve, who’s big on the dance circuit – having produced hit records in the 90’s and beyond as The Thrillseekers.

Will Helstrip was a cherished part of the CLAPA community, including a member of the Children and Young Person’s Council (CYPC) for many years. Will was born with a cleft lip and his family has been active in the CLAPA community since he joined the CYPC aged nine.

Vinyl Fantasy’s creator William is a friend of Will’s dad Steve.

William said: “We share a passion for music, especially vinyl. Steve’s a massive legend in the electronic music scene, and just such an awesome human as well. He’s a bit of a celebrity in the music field, but he’s so humble and doesn’t let it go to his head.

“I’ve always wanted to arrange my own fundraising dance events and had been researching different charities. I was invited down to DJ in Steve’s studio for his Connected show in February this year, meeting Will’s mum Ruth and the rest of the Helstrip family, including their lovely dogs. I was struck by their kindness and how well I was looked after in their company. Later, I watched a YouTube documentary that Steve and Ruth filmed about Will.

“Obviously Will’s story is just heartbreaking, but Steve and his family’s strength is so inspiring. After seeing Steve and the film, it was the logical thing to tie the dance event to CLAPA, and raise funds and awareness for such a vital service.”

“Obviously Will’s story is just heartbreaking, but Steve and his family’s strength is so inspiring. After seeing Steve and the film, it was the logical thing to tie the dance event to CLAPA, and raise funds and awareness for such a vital service.

“I’ve also got some friends in Scotland, parents of children with cleft, who’ve used CLAPA’s services and they speak so highly of the work you do.”

More than 400 people attended the event, including many who don’t usually frequent dance clubs but wanted to support CLAPA on the night.

“When William told me he wanted the proceeds from his Vinyl Fantasy dance music event to be donated to CLAPA, I was close to tears. Not just because of his generosity and what this would mean for CLAPA, but because some of my fondest, and most recent, memories of Will were from similar trance music events.”

Steve said: “When William told me he wanted the proceeds from his Vinyl Fantasy dance music event to be donated to CLAPA, I was close to tears. Not just because of his generosity and what this would mean for CLAPA, but because some of my fondest, and most recent, memories of Will were from similar trance music events.

“As a DJ myself, I was lucky enough to take Will to two festivals once he’d turned 18. He experienced first-hand just how welcoming the trance community is, and was ‘blown away’ when a complete stranger in the crowd bought him a drink. Will hadn’t experienced enough kindness like this in his life.”

Steve delighted the crowd when he joined William on the decks in Glasgow.

William added: “A couple of days before, Steve told me he was coming up to support the event, and I said ‘why don’t you play a couple of records?’ I didn’t think he would ever agree to it, but on the night he was like ‘oh, I brought some vinyl anyway’.

“It was a huge surprise for the people there, we didn’t announce it and we did a back-to-back set for an hour. Everyone was loving it, it was amazing – the event was a true highlight in all of my time DJing.”

“It was a huge surprise for the people there, we didn’t announce it and we did a back-to-back set for an hour. Everyone was loving it, it was amazing – the event was a true highlight in all of my time DJing.”

William has been DJing for more than 25 years, since he was 13. While many DJs use digital technology such as USBs, William is “old school” and also plays 12-inch vinyl records, which isn’t commonplace at club events these days. He took seven boxes of trance and trance techno records to the Glasgow gig, around 600 records.

After a big New Year’s Eve gig William’s planning to stage more charity nights next year, including another one for CLAPA.

Glasgow’s event raised £3653.43 for CLAPA through ticket sales and collections on the night.

Steve added: “On behalf of Ruth and myself, thank you William. And thank you to everyone who contributed and made this event a massive success. It means so much to both of us that you chose to honour Will’s memory in this way, and we’re sure he was right there with us dancing in the crowd.”