GLASTONBILLY: The event at The Factory Live!

In loving memory: Billy Mullin.

LIVE BY CHOICE, NOT BY CHANCE.

GLASTONBILLY: Billy and Beyond strive to support and improve mental wellbeing and increase drug safety awareness.

Scroll down to read about Billy and find out more about Billy and Beyond

THE ELECTRIFYING FOURTH EDITION OF GLASTONBILLY, PROUDLY PRESENTED BY BILLY & BEYOND!

*Click on pics to enlarge!*

GLASTONBILLY

GLASTONBILLY: 9 September 2025: The Factory Live.

Featuring MËI, BLUE DAKOTA, THE KELLY COLLAB, DYL COSMO AND HISSY & THE FITS.

The night started up as attendees for this charity and memorial evening filed into The Factory Live. It looked as if it was going to be a busy one. I am going to run through the evening in order of performance. We were promised all genres of music tonight. To kick things off…

HISSY & THE FITS.

Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Boy! These guys had some energy! These guys rolled out onto the stage, and well, they just let it rip!

A powerful 30 Minutes set ensued. All tunes were self-penned and included the opener Don’t Give Up, Debate The Hate and Heaven and Hell.

Loved it! And if you think punk has had its day, think again HISSY & THE FITS may make you want to think again! A strong professional performance with some class musicianship and vocals. Some of those guitar riffs, along with the guitar rock poses, would easily tear your face off!

They are on Instagram and you can find them on FaceBook, check them out and go see them live!

Dyl Cosmo

Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Next up was Dyl Cosmo, arrived on the stage and set about opening up and plugging in his laptop. He gave us a 30 minute slot of his material, some big songs in there! Perfectly delivered.

Dyl slung his guitar around his neck for the last few numbers of his performance. This young musician told us it had taken him months to prepare his set. It sounded like it as his voice filled the venue. A wonderful set.

THE KELLY COLLAB

Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

The stage was cleared and the next band took to the stage, and at the back was Dyl – he was now on drums! This out fit smoothed us out, this was a well oiled machine pouring out some fine soulful tunes.

The Kelly Collab brought a slice of Soul, Funk and R&B fusion to this show. making for a night of top music and fun, there is a distinct touch of class with this outfit. Given the crowd’s response to the set-list tonight I am guessing these guys grabbed some new fans. It is great to see the on-stage camaraderie during their performance.

The band quickly hit their stride and the crowd loved it and are happily dancing along.This is easy listening at its best, it was all very radio friendly. Nicely played Kelly Collab!

These guys are on Facebook, if you like your audio to be as smooth as silk, check them out!

MËI

Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

What can I say? Staggered at the sheer levels of performance art and vocals MËI brought to the Factory Live. After a slight technical delay MËI took to the stage dressed in a white outfit, a white veil and a head piece adorned with foliage. A stunning visual introduction to this artist.

Once the performance started, and, it was truly a performance, we were rooted to the spot. With some hard hitting visuals running in the back ground MËI had us transfixed with her range of vocal work. It was a delight. Nobody moved as MËI delivered her set to an appreciative and quiet audience.

BLUE DAKOTA

Photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Blue Dakota are a Sussex based trio band with a difference. Playing some of the best Country rock and Pop! After the dreamy performances from MËI and THE KELLY COLLAB we were in need of a blast of rock and pop! No fillers, just killers from these guys.

The crowd immediately sprung to life with a trio of classics from Fleetwood Mac including The Chain with that brilliant bass line working throughout. We had some real crowd pleases thrown at us including Whats Up? River Deep Mountain High, Footloose and Valerie made an appearance! A lovely way to end this special night.

Including Also!

The Lady Mayor of Worthing, Cathy Glynn-Davies, was on hand to deliver messages and her support for the charity and event. We had a cool Master of Ceremonies who kept everything ticking along.

Nicci Parish

The Director from the charity, Nicci Parish, Billy’s Mum, took to the stage and told us about Billy and how much he would have enjoyed the event. We were told about the work the charity does for young people in relation to drug education and to enhance the wellbeing of local young people. Nicci thanked everyone for coming and thanked the organisers and musicians who were all performing for free.

It was quite a night. It was emotional, educational, and informative but also a celebration of the life of Billy. I actually felt I had got to know a bit about him, just a little, but also the vital work carried out by the charity Billy & Beyond. There was a lot of memories shared, warmth and love at The Factory Live tonight.

Billy – His story:

Billy was a bright, fun-loving boy then a young man with a flair for creating a unique style and fashion, well known for his modern twist on a 1970’s mullet!

After many years in lots of different hospitality settings, Billy settled in a career as a carer for adults with complex learning difficulties.

The 9th November 2020 was Billy’s 24th birthday, he decided in the early hours of the following morning, after a few drinks, to take MDMA. This was during lockdown, which was proving to be quite tedious as he was not able to meet up with friends to celebrate. After a short while his health started to deteriorate and Billy had a seizure.

Billy spent the next 2 days in Worthing ITU before the decision was made to transfer him to Kings college hospital for frozen plasma treatment. Three days after his 24th birthday, after taking something he thought was fun, a party drug, Billy lost his life destroying the lives of  those that loved him!

Billy & Beyond

Founded in 2021 by mother Nicci Parish after the tragic loss of her son. The organisation’s mission is to provide education to young people about the potential hazards of recreational drugs. Their goal is to empower young people with the necessary information and resources to make responsible and well-informed decisions.

“I wanted to set up Billy and Beyond to do something positive in Billy’s memory. Our mission is to support children and young people’s mental wellbeing, as well as funding drug awareness workshops to educate young people on recreational drugs and the dangers of taking them.”

– Nicci Parish

You can donate to this extraordinary cause, you can contact Billy & Beyond and get a contact number here: https://www.billyandbeyond.org.uk/

Thanks to Glastonbilly, all of the extraordinary artists and The Factory Live team.

Safe to say we all had a great time at The Factory Live. All the staff were very helpful and welcoming as they always are. This is a great venue for music, club nights or comedy! Nicely done guys! Experience The Factory Live! A 285 capacity live music venue situated in the heart of Worthing on the South Coast. They recently announced they were awarded Live Music Venue of the year in West Sussex 2024/2025

Words and photos by Ian Bourn.

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All original pictures / video – copyright to IANB/MEDIA WORKS/ SCENE SUSSEX – Ian “The Lens” Bourn 2025.

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