A COMMUNITY arts festival which puts women’s issues under the spotlight is set to stage a fundraiser in aid of a 29-year-old who is bed-bound due to a rare condition.

The Women’s Festival of Music & Arts, established in 2011, only invites performances that include women to tackle the “exclusion” faced by female artists at festivals around the UK.

“We wanted to give women who make music, dance, arts and crafts a platform because festivals in the UK can be male-dominated and even male-exclusive,” said Barrie Roberts, one of the festival’s six committee members.

The festival has raised more than £4,000 for women’s charities, including ovarian cancer, domestic abuse and Rett syndrome.

This year it will support Harley Middleton, from Llangollen, who has a rare form of endometriosis, the condition which causes endometrial cells to painfully form outside the uterus, typically in the pelvis. It affects one in 10 women yet takes on average nine years to be diagnosed by the NHS.

Harley is affected in her lungs, which she said causes “frightening” chest pain and her lungs have nearly collapsed on numerous occasions, leading to bouts of unconsciousness.

She is planning to travel to the United States to receive expensive specialist treatment but needs to raise £40,000.

“I hope that in the near future there will be better treatment for endometriosis sufferers and that one day I am well enough to help them,” Harley said.