HERE’S another great chance to win tickets for the Mello Festival which, this year will be a five stage extravaganza at a brand new venue, the Severn End Country Estate at Hanley Castle.

Three pairs of tickets are up for grabs this time round, and lucky winners will get to hear major headliners including the iconic British group, Soul II Soul and the alternative rock band, Toploader.

And with the festival all set to run from May 25 to May 27, there won’t long to wait for all the excitement.

Other big names in the line-up will include Badly Drawn Boy, The Christians, Toyah, Omar, Shakatak, Livin Joy, The Chords, Mariachis, The Troggs, The Jive Aces and Mike Sanchez

In short, it’s a line-up of the legendary, and this helps to explain why those five stages will be needed.

But local talent will not miss out either.

The Assembly Stage, Contempo Stage and Melomania will feature top recognised acts alongside local bands and young performers recommended by the Best of Young Jazz organisation.

Best of Young Jazz is a music education project that celebrates young musicians with a passion for Jazz.

A spokesman said: “The project has now been running for ten years. Since starting in 2008, we have worked with thousands of young musicians, providing performance opportunities alongside workshops so that young people can develop their musical skills.

“We also aim to inspire young musicians by inviting exciting up and coming jazz musicians to perform and often work alongside our participants. We have worked with a number of award winning young musicians including Amy Roberts, Remi Harris, Alex Bone and Jamie Brownfield. Our programmes have included master-classes, residential weekends, teacher training and Residencies, with Professional Jazz musicians working in many Worcestershire schools.”

And this year, The Severn Sounds Festival team will be working in partnership with Mello Festival and will join them at this year’s festival to run a ‘Severn Sounds Bandstand’ which will host a talent of young musicians from Worcestershire county schools and colleges.

Tickets and further details regarding the Mello Festival may be found at: www.MELLOFESTIVAL.CO.UK

But to enter the fun competition, for a chance of winning tickets, please answer the following question: “How many stages are there going to be at Mello this year?”

Entries should be sent to the Worcester News no later than Wednesday May 16, by emailing the answer to: competitions@worcesternews.co.uk

The word “Mello2” should be in the email’s heading.

Entries can also be by post, of course, and these should be sent, bearing the word “Mello2”, to the Entertainments Editor, Gary Bills-Geddes, at The Worcester News, Hylton Road, Worcester, WR2 5JX.

Name, address and contact details must be supplied.

The winners will be the first three names drawn from a hat, and our decision will be final.