Southport Jazz Festival returns with new organisers and volunteers

Festival organiser Emma Holcroft says there has been a great reception from audiences

A musician who lost her dad to dementia has taken over the organisation of the Southport Jazz Festival in the hope she can take outreach concerts out to people with similar cognitive issues. Emma Holcroft and fellow Swingtime big band member Jez Murphy have relaunched the festival following a hiatus due to the pandemic.

Emma's dad enjoyed music right up until his death last year. She said: "He came to see one of my concerts a couple of months before we lost him and he knew every word to the songs and it put a genuine smile on his face. This was at the stage when he had trouble remembering his own family. "

She hopes to take the festival into the community to reach people who can't attend the concerts. "People with cognitive issues including dementia will hopefully find some of those lost memories if only for as long as the song lasts."

Emma also feels strongly about the under representation of women in jazz and as a director of a festival wants to do something about it. She also plans to stage school workshops to encourage more children to take up an instrument and be able to play at future festivals. "Uptake is dangerously low at the moment and schools don't have the resources to help to change that. Maybe we can in a small way," she added.

The 2023 Southport Jazz Festival has seen full houses at the Grand Hotel for a weekend of live music featuring national and international performers, who either live in or originate from the North West. The 10 acts included the Swingtime Big Band featuring Liane Carroll & Emma Holcroft, The Brownfield-Byrne Quintet and the Wigan Youth Jazz orchestra.