A gigging musician who began performing free online sessions during lockdown is about to reach the landmark of 100 shows tonight - and hopes to raise money for charity in the process.
Mabe musician Greg Thomas - known to the music world as Helm DeVegas - will be perfoming his Lockdown Sessions 100th Anniversary Show on Facebook this evening from 7pm.
As with just about everyone else in the entertainments industry, his world has been turned upside down and he’s had to re-invent himself.
That’s meant becoming a Facebook star with three nightly shows every week, broadcast from his home. That’s a big call and he’s deservedly built up a big following.
Tonight (Friday) marks his century of such shows, and to celebrate the great landmark all online donations will be going to Cancer Research and Help Musicians.
Anyone can view the show via his Facebook profile page, Helm DeVegas, and donate money to the charities.
Helm DeVegas, also known as Greg Thomas from Mabe, is performing his 100th Lockdown Session on Facebook tonight
Helm, who has been music teacher at Trewirgie Junior School in Redruth for the last 15 years, told the Packet: "I have been playing online gigs since March when the music scene started to close down.
"I am a gigging musician who, like many others, have been unable to work. I began on the day that we lost Kenny Rogers and I played some of his songs to anyone that wanted to listen via a Facebook live stream.
"This spiralled out of control and now, unbelievably, I am approaching my 100th show all this time on.
"I continued on with them because people kept coming back and together we built the ‘Helm Community’. A place where people not only came to listen to the shows but to share stories and laugh and joke with each other in these crazy times we all live in right now."
Helm is a hugely popular figure on the Westcountry music circuit with more than 30 years under his professional gigging belt. He has been playing in pubs and clubs since the tender age of 15.
In that time he has played in many local bands with a huge array of musical styles - most notably the band Small Wonder, which has entertained music lovers for more than 20 years.
He has also performed his own music through Helm and the All Star Band, with others from the Cornish music circuit.
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