Win a BC Rich Guitar With Bloodstock Festival

The Bloodstock festival is offering you the chance to win a BC Rich guitar signed by top players Tony Iommi, Herman Li (Dragonforce), Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen.

The competition is being run to draw attention to an important cause that should be close to the hearts of all metal and rock fans.

Bloodstock organisers have this year renamed their 3rd stage The Sophie Lancaster Stage in tribute to a young girl who was brutally attacked, along with her boyfriend Robert Maltby in 2007 while they were walking through their local park in Bacup, Lancashire.

Metal fan Sophie and her boyfriend were singled out not for anything they had said or done, but because they looked and dressed differently. Unfortunately Sophie later died in hospital following the injuries from this unprovoked attack.

The Sophie Lancaster Foundation was set up by Sophie's family to help provide training to professionals in order to raise awareness of the prejudice and violence faced by people from alternative subcultures. The Foundation will develop and deliver workshops tackling these issues and challenging pre-conceptions as well as offering advice and information to whoever may need it.

To be in with a chance to win simply purchase the S.O.P.H.I.E (Stamp Out Prejudice, Intolerance and Ignorance Everywhere) /Bloodstock wristband online here and wear it with pride. For every wristband purchased the buyer will be entered into a prize draw to win the guitar.

In related news, the band Beholder are donating all proceeds to the Sophie Lancaster Foundation from the worldwide release of their single - Never Take Us Down - available from May 11th 2009. This track was written as a direct response to Sophie's murder.