READERS of your Worcester News will almost certainly be familiar with my reports about the Uptonupon- Severn Jazz Festival.

I’ve been covering this annual midsummer night’s dream of classic and traditional sounds for more years than I care to remember. The festival has been going for more than a quarter-of-acentury and is testimony to the hard work of everyone concerned, from the committee members to the devoted staff beavering away on Fish Meadow.

Like all successful enterprises, the Upton Jazz Festival has a hugely efficient front man and few – if any – visitors to the Severnside town will not know the very personification of the three-day bash.

‘Sir’ Alan Buckley is indeed a man of many talents. A traditional jazz drummer of some repute, he also possesses one of the biggest drum collections in the world, exhibiting in this country and abroad. With all this, plus more than 40 festivals to his name in the Midlands alone, you would be forgiven for thinking that he was a man with more than enough on his musical plate.

But no. Next August will see him launching his first music festival at Bromyard, Herefordshire, home of the renowned annual folk festival. Like Upton, this will be a three-day affair that will cater for a wide range of tastes, from traditional and ‘hot club’ styles to the mayhem of Bob Kerr’s Whoopee Band.

We are indeed blessed when it comes to pleasurable activities in this neck of the woods. There are now festivals right across Worcestershire and Herefordshire that enliven the summer scene with sound and colour. And the welcoming of Bromyard to the fold will not only provide a welcome boost to the area’s tourism but will also be another feather in the cap of the one and only ‘Sir’ Alan.