Meet the woman holding a festival at her Tore home this weekend

A Highland woman's holding a festival in her garden this weekend, aimed at raising the profile of her new endometriosis foundation.

Andrea Dalgetty is hosting EndoSpell Music Festival in Tore this Saturday and Sunday.

She hopes the drive-in event will raise the profile of her charity, aimed at helping millions of women across the world suffering excruciating pain from the condition.

The Mechanical Engineer's being supported by various contacts, including experienced music promoter Rob Ellen of Medicine Music.

Many companies have donated items to the cause such as the stage and toilet block.

Chance encounter changed her life

Endometriosis is where tissue similar to the lining of the womb starts to grow in other places, such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes.

It can affect women at any age and have a significant impact on their life.

Andrea suffered from endometriosis for many years until a chance encounter helped her and wants to spread the word about cutting edge treatment she received.

She said: "It took about eight years for me to be diagnosed.

“I went from about 14 stone to seven, I couldn’t eat, crawling around in pain and then I had laparoscopy (keyhole surgery) where I was diagnosed with the condition.

"I’m a Mechanical Engineer and I had a car in my garden.

"A gentleman interested in the car, told me about the epigenetics to see if it would work and it did!

“I want to help as many women as I can with endometriosis. I had the condition myself and no longer suffer from it.

“I’ve been trying for a long time now to get it out there, that there is an available treatment that helped me."

"Outstanding support" towards festival

Outside groups of up to 15 people will have their own individual camping pitch at the drive-in festival.

Since the move to Level 0 covid restrictions, day tickets are now also available

Andrea said organising a festival at her home has been "very interesting."

She added: "It's very new for me, I’ve got experienced friends and lots of contacts, but it’s pretty hectic.

“We’re keeping everyone in their own spaces and we’ll be delivering food there.

“It’s actually amazing how many people I’ve spoken to now who know people with the condition and are looking for help as well.

"It’s really humbling, the amount of work that everybody’s put in.

"The bands have been fantastic, the support from all the companies who have donated the stage, the toilet blocks. It has been outstanding.

"The important point is to get my foundation going. It needs more investigation, there’s been other research done, but we need to do more research so we can a treatment plan.

"There’s 176 million women who suffer from this, the idea is to hopefully generate an app that can be used to help as many as people as I can.

"I’m looking forward to the weekend and the bands are looking forward to it as well as there’s not been a lot happening.

"It’s something I think everyone’s really looking forward to."

Tickets for the festival are still available and the line up can be accessed at https://endospell.co.uk/

Andrea's also released a single to help raise the profile of her foundation which can be streamed and downloaded here.