Some African rainwater signed by Toto is being auctioned for charity

The final four items from this year's Heavy Metal Truants charity auction have just been put up for grabs.

The items include a presentation case containing three vials of African rainwater, collected on the first day of the rainy season in 2019 after a long period of drought. The vials are signed by members of Toto, in honour of their classic hit Africa, and feature in the case alongside a cassette of the band's classic album IV.

The other three items up for grabs are a Fender Squire guitar signed by Status Quo, a drumhead autographed by Queen's Roger Taylor, and the baseball bat used by Slipknot's Clown during their headline performance at last year's Download Festival.

Truants founder Alexander Milas says: "We Heavy Metal Truants are now in our eighth yea. It's completely down to the support of the cyclists who go on a bicycle race up to Download every year, and also the industry who time and time again prove that people don't = sh*t.

"It's truly as if moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide people toward causes like these, and every penny will go to some fantastic causes so get down down to heavymetaltruants.com and do the fandango immediately – you'd be psychosocial to miss it!"

Money raised by the auction will go to three charities to help children in need: Nordoff Robbins, Teenage Cancer Trust, and Childline.

Artists

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.