Welcome to the 19th Swanage Jazz festival
This years festival is to be held from the 11th to 13th July.
We aim to present you with a choice of some of the best jazz being played in Britain today. The feel of the festival is relaxed and friendly, and we have a policy of mixing well-established musicians, including some of the best-known names in British jazz, with some of the brightest young bands from London and other parts of the country. In addition we have some excellent musicians from various parts of Europe, and from the USA and Australia. We are especially pleased to welcome Andy Hamilton in his 90th year and Bob Barnard, now happily recovered from recent surgery.
We have five stroller venues, three marquees and two smaller indoor venues. There are also several indoor and outdoor free venues and a brass band parade on Saturday morning. Our policy is to try to programme so that venues don’t become overcrowded, but very occasionally we do have to restrict entry to specific venues for the comfort and safety of ticket holders. Please co-operate with the stewards (who are all volunteers).
We hope you’ll have an enjoyable and trouble-free weekend, but if there are problems, speak to one of the stewards who, if they can’t deal with the issue, will call on one of the committee. If you are staying longer than the festival weekend, we suggest you pop into the Tourist Information Centre in Shore Road, where the staff can offer suggestions and information about the many possibilities for strenuous or relaxing ways of enjoying the countryside, the seaside and the sea around Swanage.
The collections for charity will go to our regular charities. The Sunday gospel service will support the Purbeck branch of Chernobyl Link This is an organisation that arranges holidays in Britain for youngsters from the Republic of Belarus, which was devastated by the Chernobyl nuclear power station explosion in 1986. The collections at venues on Saturday evening, and at the parade, will go to Casa Alianza, a charity which works with poor children in several Central American countries.
We would like to thank our sponsors: Arts Council England, the PRS Foundation, the Swanage and Purbeck Holiday Accommodation Association, Purbeck Music Services and Lincolnshire Automatics/Ks Cafe. We are grateful to Swanage Town Council for the use of Sandpit Field and King George’s Field. Finally can I thank all the stewards, friends who provide accommodation, the treasurer, Mel Norris and my family, without whom the festival could not exist or survive.
Fred Lindop, festival director