Chance for musicians to help make a difference

Timothy West actor, Mark King, musician Viggo Mortensen, actor,

Mark Little, actor/comedian, Ian Rush, former footballer and pundit, Allan Donald, former cricketer, Dannii Minogue TV personality/singer, Jess Glynne, I AGREE that in the recent Welcome to Yorkshire publication Kirklees is neglected (Barbara Lockwood, Examiner Feedback “Grassroots work needed for grandiose music plan”, October 10).

There is a particular problem in the treatment of Marsden and Slaithwaite.

Despite all that the Colne Valley has to offer in history, culture, arts and countryside both are omitted from the Welcome

In its diversity and quality of live music Marsden surpasses any other rural jazz festival in the UK.

International musicians rub shoulders with youth jazz bands and recordings of several concerts will feature on Radio 3’s “Jazz Now” in the weeks to come.

Marsden Jazz Festival is pleased to be part of a group of music organisations that is working with Kirklees Council to ensure music is recognised as an integral part of the local economy. Already Huddersfield University and Kirklees Council have signed up to a new partnership with Arts Council England, but work to ensure every music organisation and business is able to be involved and the strategy delivers real benefits will take a bit longer.

There will be opportunities over the next six months for all music organisations to contribute to making this music strategy both effective and responsive to stakeholders.

I am sure together, we will make an important contribution to the local economy of Kirklees, as the jazz festival does very effectively in Marsden. IT’S a pity these ‘experts,’ with their post-Brexit predictions, couldn’t predict something as big as the near total collapse of the country’s economy, that those at the lower end of the socio-economic scale are still paying for 10 years on.