Congratulations to the National Youth Jazz Orchestra celebrating fifty years

Pete Allen Newsletter May 2023 Welcome to the Pete Allen Newsletter. This is the first in a regular monthly newsletter. If you do not want to receive this letter you can unsubscribe at the bottom of this email – I hope you won’t. The band has recently had a new addition – Chris Hodgkins on trumpet – otherwise…

So ran the headline in the Observer on Sunday 24th May 2020. It was an article by Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Digital Culture Media and Sport. (  https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/may/24/the-world-looks-to-british-theatre-so-lets-get-it-back-on-track ) The article presented the new task force and working groups which was the same old storey with the usual suspects in place. Of course…

Keith Little is pleased to announce a very special evening of jazz to celebrate the lives of two of the greatest characters on the jazz scene in Cardiff – Pete Locke and Alun Jones, who passed away during the lockdowns. There will be music from The Riverside Jazzband and the Keith Little Hot Six on…

Pete Allen Newsletter February 2024 Welcome to the Pete Allen Newsletter.  Pete Allen’s gigs Special guests Thomas ‘Spats’ Langham and Trevor Whiting are appearing with the Pete Allen Band in Newbury and in Sidmouth. Sunday 4th February – The Bacon Arms, Oxford Street, Newbury, RG14 1JB. 2.30 pm to 5 pm.  Admission is £17.50 at the…

Chris Hodgkins Newsletter – Current + New Projects 2024 SUMMONED BY BELLS – A new project for 2024 This project is based around Sir John Betjeman’s poem “Summoned By Bells” and involves a tour of churches with bell towers. The core of the programme revolves around a number of newly composed themes played by church…

There was an article in the Guardian on the 12th June 2021,  “Oliver Dowden – The paymaster who is calling the tune in the culture wars”. The article highlighted what a wonderful smokescreen culture wars are for the inadequacy of the Secretary of State for Culture and the DCMS. They serve to reinforce the findings…