Glastonferry returns to Eastham Ferry on 29 and 30 August, free, noon to 7pm. It raises for Claire House, which spent £1.7m more than it took last year.

Update, 12 September: Glastonferry 2026 has taken place, and this page stays up as a record of the event and the charity it raised for. For what is on next on the Wirral, see fireworks and bonfire night, the Christmas lights switch-on and things to do in Wirral.

Glastonferry returned to Eastham Ferry over the August bank holiday weekend, on Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 August. It runs from noon until 7pm on both days, it is free to get in, and everything raised goes to Claire House Children’s Hospice. (Glastonferry 2026 listing)

Music is split across two venues on Ferry Road, the Eastham Ferry Hotel and The Tap, at 243 Ferry Road, CH62 0AU. The listing promises local artists and bands over the two days, plus:

  • children’s entertainment on Saturday and Sunday, including a magician, face painting and games
  • food and drink to buy from the venues across the weekend
  • a charity raffle

Entry costs nothing, but the organisers ask people to put something in for the charity. Free tickets can be claimed through the listing. When we checked on 26 August the organisers had not published a stage-by-stage line-up or set times.

The charity is a Wirral one

Claire House is not a distant national charity being fundraised for from a distance. Its original hospice is at Clatterbridge Road, Bebington, CH63 4JD, about three miles from Eastham Ferry in a straight line, and it has been running for 26 years. (Claire House)

Its own annual report for the year to 31 March 2025 gives the scale of the work and the size of the gap money like this weekend’s is filling. (Claire House annual report and consolidated financial statements 2025)

  • it supported 496 babies, children and young people that year, including 124 at the end of their lives
  • income was £10,929,035
  • spending was £12,625,965, leaving a deficit before investment movements of £1,696,930
  • £8,519,843 of that went on care and other charitable activity

Public money is a minority of it. Integrated Care Boards paid £953,050. NHS England gave a grant of £906,213, described in the report as interim funding “until a more reliable funding structure is implemented”, plus £173,661 towards pension costs. Added together that is a little over £2m of a £10.9m income. The rest is donations, legacies, the charity’s shops and its lottery.

Bar chart comparing Claire House income of £10.93m with spending of £12.63m in the year to 31 March 2025, and the £2.03m share that came from the NHS
Claire House income and spending, year to 31 March 2025

What it means for you

It is a free day out at the river on a bank holiday weekend, which is a rare enough thing. A few practical points before you go.

Getting there and parking:

  • the venues are at the bottom of Ferry Road, next to Eastham Country Park, Ferry Road, CH62 0BH, which has paid car parking and is open dawn to dusk (Wirral Council)
  • country park charges apply 8am to 6.30pm every day except Christmas Day: £1.20 for an hour, £2.40 for two, £3.60 for three, £4.80 for four, and £6 for more than four hours or all day (Wirral Council)
  • Blue Badge holders park free, with no time limit, if the badge is displayed
  • a car left for the full noon to 7pm will be inside the charging window for most of that, so budget the £6
  • the nearest railway station is Eastham Rake, on Brookhurst Avenue, CH62 9AL, which is about two miles from the venues in a straight line and further on foot (National Rail)

The park’s visitor centre and toilets open 10am to 4pm, so they shut three hours before the music does.

More Wirral days out are on our things to do in Wirral page, and if you are driving over from the west of the peninsula, check Wirral roadworks and travel first.