LEICESTER-based charity fundraiser, Ayaz Sheikh, paid a visit to Tenby and its South Beach car park beachfront for the very first time - on Thursday, September 22, 28 years and eight weeks on from former Radio 1 DJ, Simon Mayo hosting the Radio 1 Roadshow at the venue.

Ayaz is on part of a five-week tour of venues from the 1988 BBC Radio 1 Roadshow, a trip all in aid of Cancer Research UK, with the aim of raising £5,000.

Throughout the 1980s and until they ceased in 1999, the Radio 1 Roadshows were a highlight of many young people’s summers, with towns such as Tenby benefiting from an increase in tourism for the day or week the Roadshow appeared in them.

Each week, a different Radio 1 DJ, all then household names, would bring some of the latest chart bands and singers to the local stage, giving people the chance to see groups they might never have had a chance to see otherwise.

Ayaz is the founder of SSCOM GROUP (Simon Shiekh Communications Group), a non-profit voluntary PR/media agency that specialises in fundraising for good causes. He has also spent time following his love of radio with spells as a DJ, both in hospital and student radio.

An avid Radio 1 listener since his youth, Ayaz hit on the idea of making a tour of all the 1988 roadshow venues - 45 in all - as a fundraiser. While he always listened to them, he never had the chance to attend one himself, so it helps to fulfil that desire.

“Despite having events like One Big Sunday in my hometown of Leicester in September 2001, 2002 and 2004, I never attended these as they weren’t the same as a Roadshow on the beaches of the UK,” he said.

And the summer 1988 season was chosen as that was the year in early September that FM stereo arrived for listeners in the Midlands - much improving their listening experience.

“It was surreal to finally hear Radio 1 in super stereo sound, alongside the Sunday afternoon Top 40 show,” he added.

Prior to visiting Tenby, week beginning Monday, August 15, he followed that week tour of Steve Wright, (who in 1988 also hosted the shows in Weston-Super-Mare, Minehead, Ilfracombe, Bude and Newquay), before jetting off to the Isles of Scilly for the weekend. Then the following week, he visited St. Ives, Falmouth, St. Austell, Plymouth and Torquay, before spending the weekend in Exeter, taking in a visit to Powderham Castle, where Radio 1’s Big Weekend took place.

He ended the three-week stint by visiting Exmouth in Devon, followed by the Dorset towns of Lyme Regis, Weymouth, Swanage and Bournemouth, but is now continuing for two more weeks visiting Southsea, Sandown (Isle of Wight), Brighton, Eastbourne, Margate, Barry Island, Porthcawl and Swansea, before Tenby’s visit, also covering the rest of South/West Wales.

Next year, he hopes to complete the four outstanding week tour with venues in Northern Ireland, Scotland, North East and North West England.

He is also hopeful that following his tour this year, he may be able to arrange a one-off special revival show at one of the venues - again for a good cause. He is also documenting the trip with regular posts on social media and is taking a great interest in how the areas have changed in the last 28 years.

To donate to Ayaz’s quest, visit his Just Giving page follows: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Ayaz-Sheikh1