AN ALTRINCHAM pensioner was treated to an intimate gig in his garden by an up-and-coming band.

Rescue the Eskimo, who have spent the summer performing at festivals including Manchester’s Parklife and the Ben and Jerry’s Festival in Heaton Park, took time out of their busy schedule to perform for 75-year-old David Toft.

The pensioner, who suffers from cancer, was left devastated when his wife Margaret collapsed and died on Mother’s Day this year.

David began to take an interest in his great-niece 17-year-old Lizzie Brankin’s band Rescue the Eskimo, but his ill-health meant he was unable to go to any of their gigs.

But on August 27, David’s Gladstone Road patio was transformed into a stage when Lizzie and the other two band members Jack Higson and Ben Matthews, put on a special 40 minute gig for him.

The trio, who are all in their second year at Trafford College’s Manchester Music Base, set up the band earlier this year and it has been a huge success.

Lizzie, a former Altrincham College of Arts pupil and the group’s lead singer, had wanted to do something to cheer David up.

“We made him a cd of our music and he really like it but he’s not well and he didn’t ever think he would get to see us live so we thought we would go round to him David’s son Simon, 35, helped organise the gig and said it was ‘absolutely fantastic’.

“When Mum died suddenly three months ago, Dad lost his right arm as he and my Mum had never been apart.

“He started taking an interest in Lizzie’s band but never thought he would be able to see them.

“My dad was over the moon. He thoroughly enjoyed it.”