New Year's Honours MBE awarded to Mersey Care's Chief Executive

SOME of the biggest names in British jazz are heading to Southport this January and February to perform at the much anticipated 2026 Southport Jazz Festival. Organisers have invested in even more big name headline acts with 10 superb shows across three jam packed days and nights at:- The Grand on Lord Street in Southport from:- 30 January to 1 February 2026.  They are going for girl power this year, with women as the headline acts.  From trio to big band, young performers to jazz legends, and even a special Vocal Workshop with jazz legend Liane Carroll, there is something for everybody. The headline acts are Swingtime Big Band featuring Liane Carroll and Emma Holcroft on the Friday night, The Clare Teal 5 on the Saturday night and then iG4 with Claire Martin, Nikki Iles, Karen Sharp and Ewan Hastie as the grand finale for the festival on the Sunday. Tickets are on sale at the Southport Jazz Festival website.

The festival attracts music lovers from all corners of the UK.  The Southport Jazz Festival 2026 will be Directed by:- Emma Murphy, Jez Murphy and Clifford Ray. They said:- "We are really excited to be back with the 2026 Southport Jazz Festival! This event has grown and grown ever since we began staging it at The Grand in Southport, which is a stunning venue for a jazz festival. It's our fourth year at this venue. This will be the biggest, most ambitious festival we've ever done. We have some incredibly exciting acts this year. We have invested in bringing in some impressive headline acts such as:- The Clare Teal 5, and iG4 with Claire Martin, Nikki Iles, Karen Sharp and Ewan Hastie. We're honoured to be able to welcome back Liane Carroll once again, our Southport Jazz Festival Patron, who is a real jazz legend and sells out every year she's in Southport. With the festival we're always keen to give back and to encourage the next generation and their love of music. So we're delighted to be staging a special Vocal Workshop with Liane Carroll as well as a show performed by Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra. We have listened to feedback from our festival-goers and our programme is very much guided by what they love to hear. We once again have our 3-3-4 format of shows - which sounds like a football formation; with three shows on the Friday, 3 on the Saturday and then 4 on the Sunday. The evening shows are all headline stars and likely to sell out pretty fast! We're really pleased to have Clare Teal with us again, one of the major jazz musicians in the UK, with a growing international reputation. Claire Martin OBE is then with us on Sunday with her band iG4, performing with some of the top names in jazz. The bassist is Ewan Hastie who was the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year in 2022. All of our headliners are women this year, which never happens at jazz festivals! People are able to buy tickets for single shows or full days or just £169 for the full festival, which is fantastic value, saving more money the more shows they come and see. We are honoured to be able to welcome people from across the UK from places including:- Scotland, Wales, London, Scarborough, Manchester, Liverpool, Scarborough, all over! It's a great boost for local businesses in Southport, bringing people into town to enjoy:- local hotels, guest houses, shops, restaurants and bars through livening up a winter weekend. We're very grateful to the ongoing support of our festival volunteers and to the brilliant team at The Grand, who have been absolutely superb to work with. The Grand is a beautiful venue, and they can't do enough to support us. For people coming to the festival, there are great places to stay including the Lord Street Hotel next door and The Bold Hotel right over the road. The Grand and The Bold are beautiful places to eat, and there are lots of other great restaurants, cafes and bars nearby in Southport's trendy:- 'Northern Quarter.' After the huge successes of the last three years we go again, bringing top class shows to Southport."

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