Rock 'n' roll revellers boogied the day and night away to be part of a charity chartbuster which saw £50,000 raised to complete the £1.5 million target for Thanet’s cancer care appeal.

The festival arena at Quex Park in Birchington was the perfect setting as thousands of fans and charity supporters refused to let threats of rain get in the way of their fun.

Organisers from the Westgate and Birchington Rotary Club described the Seventies Spectacular as “amazing” and are already looking towards planning a similar event for summer 2009.

Bands and performers gave their services free - take a bow Suzi Quatro, the T Rex Band, The Glitter Band, Purity, Dermot O’Leary and Kaddy-Lee Preston - and they had such a ball that many have pledged to return if asked.

Headliner Suzi Q summed up the feeling of all present. She said: “Almost everybody has a personal experience of losing someone to cancer and that is why charity fundraising shows like this are so important.”

And she revealed that during her 90 minute barn-storming set of '70s pop classics like Can The Can and Devilgate Drive she felt an emotional spotlight on her as memories of her late mum came to the fore.

She said: “One of the songs from my current album, Back To The Drive, was inspired by my mother on her last trip to England, before I lost her to cancer. The song, Sometimes Love Is Letting Go, took on an even more poignant feeling than it usually does. I feel she was shining down on me that night.”

She added: “The best memory of the night for me is, as I was mid flow, being Suzi Quatro, doing my rock and roll poses and postures..giving it everything I had, I happened to glance down at the crowd and caught my seven-year-old granddaughter, who had come with us, sitting in the front in the press enclosure. She waved and that stopped me dead, it was so funny. I guess all she saw up there was grandma. Still, at least in the dressing room as I put on my jumpsuit for the night, she had the grace to say, 'you look nice in that grandma'.She likes to see her grandma rock and roll."

She told how set-backs on the way to the show didn’t deter her and her band. She explained: “It was threatening rain on and off, but I kept the faith. We arrived a little late due to an incident on my sax player’s train. We had to turn around and go back, pick him up, and then go to the gig. So our dinner stop turned into snatching some sandwiches and quickly getting back in the van, eating en route. Oh the joys of being on the road!

"The show was on when we got there, and I quickly asked to be shown to my dressing room so I could do my vocal warm-up and get into the mood.

“We took the stage at about 9.45pm and, mercy of mercies, the rain stayed in the clouds. The mood was great and we rock and rolled for 90 minutes, which did the normal thing to my black jumpsuit - it’s called sweat.

“After two encores, and getting presented with an old gold record by my good friend from 35 years ago, [Rotary president] Mike Benton, I went to the dressing room, peeled off the suit and prepared for the journey home. It was a great night.”

Television celebrity Dermot O’Leary described the event as “a great occasion for a really important cause.”

James Colton, east Kent sales manager for kmfm radio, a media partner for the festival, said: “It was fabulous. Everyone enjoyed the event and the bands really turned back the clock to the '70s. The organisers pulled out all the stops to hit the £50,000 target and they deserve huge congratulations.”

North Thanet MP, Roger Gale, who was at the festival with his wife Suzy, South Thanet Conservative parliamentary hopeful Laura Sandys and her husband Randolph Kent, described it as “a rocking great success.”

He said: “This was a fantastic promotion, very well run, attended and enjoyed by thousands of people and raising significant funds for a most worthwhile cause. I understand from organisers that the remaining debt on the QEQM Cancer Care unit will have been wiped out by the proceeds from this one night’s work. That is an incredible achievement in itself”.

Roger Gale, who as a TV producer and director put pop music on the TV screen throughout the '70s, (and booked Suzi Quatro for Multi-Coloured Swap Shop) added: "I have attended a lot of concerts in my time and I know just how much sweat and tears goes into organising them. The Westgate and Birchington Rotary Club members and their supporters have, as amateurs and volunteers, put together a show that would give most professionals pause for thought. They have done brilliantly and they deserve huge thanks for their work.

“The groups were on great form and Suzi Quatro has to be one of the greatest rockers in the business and she really set the night sky on fire. It was a tremendous show.”

A symbolic release of blue and white biodegradable balloons containing names and messages relating to people who lost their lives to cancer was spectacular and Rotarian Cllr Roger Latchford, one of the organising team, said: “It was a poignant moment for so many of us who have lost loved ones to this illness. The balloons have travelled far and wide and we have already had contact from someone in Dortmund in Germany.

“The whole event was a triumph - the music, the atmosphere, the fans and the organisation. And the threat of rain in the evening held off, although nearby Westgate suffered a downpour. I guess the gods were smiling on us.”