The Cosmic Puffin festival started in 2008 and wasn’t really supposed to be a festival at all. A close friend of mine had a small daughter taken very ill and spent 3-4 days in a critical condition in St Mary’s Hospital in London in intensive care. A charity based at the hospital provides funds to enable parents of sick kids to stay in lodgings nearby so they can visit easily and regularly. I decided to do a ‘benefit’ gig to raise money for the said charity, COSMIC (Children of St Mary’s Intensive Care). The children’s ward at Basildon hospital where she was transferred to convalesce after coming out of intensive care was called Puffin ward and so the name of the festival was handed to me on a plate!