The workers who took on fun jobs that pay nothing
The workers who took on fun jobs that pay nothing
Annie HayesWed, August 5, 2026 at 1:04 PM UTC
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Helen and Dan Wright created their own music festival for the joy of it - John Lawrence for The Telegraph
Helen Wright and her husband Dan have serious day jobs.
Helen, 50, has her own recruitment business called 9-2-3 Jobs and Dan, 51, is a neurosurgeon.
But on the side, the couple – who live in Oxfordshire with their three children – run their own music festival.
They are part of a growing cohort of Britain’s busiest professionals who are holding down well-paid day jobs while spending their out-of-hours clocking on to another “fun” job – purely for the kicks.
The Wrights came up with the idea to create their own festival after baulking at the cost of going to an event as a family.
“We both love music and going to watch it live but with a family of five, the ticket prices are astronomical,” says Helen. “One evening we thought to ourselves: ‘Why don’t we create our own festival?’”
The seeds of the idea were planted in early 2025 and grew into the Middle Aston Tribute Music Festival, which brings together tribute acts from across the UK to belt out classic favourites at Middle Aston House near Bicester.
The Middle Aston Tribute Music Festival brings together acts from across the UK - John Lawrence for The Telegraph
“Our first festival was in July 2025 and was such a success that we ended up going again this year,” says Helen. “There’s a lot more to think about than we first thought – including insurance, health and safety, loos, bins, security – the list goes on!”
This year’s festival, which was held last month, hosted six tribute acts including a performance from Dolly Parton, who came “all the way from Newcastle”, says Helen.
The couple aim to break even, selling around 800 adult tickets for £30.
The Wrights say they don’t do it for profit but for the joy of it, though that has meant asking for a few favours.
“Middle Aston House hosts it in their grounds and in return, they take the profits from alcohol sales,” says Helen. The festival also supports local businesses, with food vans taking a pitch for around £50.
The festival is a passion project, not a bill-payer - John Lawrence for The Telegraph
The backdrop of the festival is sobering. More than 200 UK festivals have disappeared since 2019 and the Association of Independent Festivals has been campaigning for VAT on festival tickets to be reduced from 20pc to 5pc, so far without success.
For the Tribute Music Festival, its survival is helped by the fact that its founders are not depending on it to pay the mortgage. Their passion project has become an antidote to their day jobs.
“Running a small recruitment business has been particularly stressful in the current economic climate for Helen and being a surgeon is obviously a serious business,” says Dan. “So we do quite enjoy saying things like ‘Good news – I’ve found an Oasis!’ or ‘I’ve just got Elton on the phone!’.
“It’s something completely different for both of us.”
Like the Wrights, Manoj Taylor, 46, finds joy in his second job.
By day, he runs a personal training business in north London. By night, he writes, performs and sings Bollywood-influenced music, appearing on Asian radio and performing live gigs across the country.
Manoj Taylor says ‘music gives a reason for happiness’
Taylor spent 18 years as an optician before pivoting to fitness, and while those jobs paid the bills, music does not. Nor, he says, does it need to.
“Unless they play it on Asian ‘sample’ days, the sad truth is that I don’t get paid royalties,” he says. “But that’s not the point. I love it.”
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Rather than tracking every station every day of the year, some licensing systems use a representative sample of broadcast days to estimate how often music is played, which is used to calculate royalty payments to musicians.
His idol is Kishore Kumar, the influential Bollywood singer and actor, but it is the everyday audience he thinks about when he performs: “A lot of people are struggling with their mental health right now. People are lonely and they fear AI will take their jobs. Music gives a reason for happiness.”
With two teenage children, he is also conscious of the example he is setting: “I felt it was important to show them that you don’t need to be a one-trick pony when it comes to jobs.”
A 2025 Royal Mail study found that for 51pc of people, their side hustle gave them a greater sense of purpose, while for 23pc it allowed them to pursue a passion.
Friends Ginnia Cheng, 37, and Laura Thomas, 41, find their second job does both.
Cheng works in PR and Thomas is a lecturer in biomedical science at the University of Hertfordshire. Every three to four months, they co-host a sex-themed comedy show.
Ginnia Cheng and Laura Thomas both love the creative side of their show
The pair met at a open-mic night and built the show from the ground up, initially in the intimate setting of a room above a pub. It has since grown substantially, with their most recent show staged at the Clapham Grand in London. They raise money for charity and with brand partnerships in the adult entertainment space, it is thriving.
For Cheng, the appeal is partly about transformation: “It feels like what I imagine it might be to become someone else – putting on your makeup and becoming a different version of you.”
But it is also about agency: “With my main job, you work your way towards promotion. With our show, we’re completely in charge and we can do what we want. That’s exciting.”
Thomas says the show allows her to step into a more playful persona: “As a scientist and senior lecturer, creativity is already a big part of my work – you’re constantly finding new ways to explain complex ideas, engage students and solve problems.
“But the show gives me a different creative outlet, one that’s spontaneous and a world away from academia.”
The skills, Cheng adds, have flowed back into her day job in unexpected ways.
“I’ve become more fearless,” she says. “The creativity I get through the show helps me stay sane when things get serious at work.”
A lucky few manage to swap the day job for the fun one entirely.
Hannah and Simon West began documenting their family travels on social media two-and-a-half years ago as “Adventures of the Wests”, a record of life on the road with their two young sons. Today, they have more than 170,000 followers across their social media platforms.
Simon, 52, went full-time at the start of this year. Hannah, 39, still oversees her massage business but is no longer involved in the day-to-day, devoting the bulk of her time to their content. This last winter alone, they took 14 ski trips.
“I would never have imagined being able to experience the world in this way had we not become content creators. The adventures we now have with our children are incredible,” says Hannah.
Their side hustle is no longer an antidote to their day jobs but, by monetising it through brand collaborations, it has replaced the need for income from a nine-to-five.
The “fun” job may not pay its way for everyone but for many, that is not the point.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
