We hope you enjoy the 22nd Swanage Jazz Festival. As always, we mix well-known names in British jazz, with a selection of musicians from the brilliant younger generation, across most of the spectrum of music we call jazz.

We have five stroller venues, three marquees and two indoor and all are accessible by wheelchair. Once again we are using Bar 7 by the Old Stone Quay, along with our regular venues on Sandpit Field, the Old Tennis Court site in Seymer Road and the Conservative Club. We will run an all-day bus service from Sandpit Field (Marquees 1 and 2) to Marquee 3 on the Downs, via Bar 7 and the Conservative Club.

We try to programme so that no venue becomes too crowded, but very occasionally we do have to limit entry to a venue for the safety of ticket holders. Please cooperate with the stewards who are all volunteers from the Jazz Club. We hope you have a happy and trouble- free weekend, but if you have a problem, speak to a steward, who will call one of committee if she or he can’t resolve it.

Last year’s experiment using wristbands to replace tickets was a success. The majority of responses we had were positive – most people seem to have found showing their wrists less trouble than searching in bags and pockets for tickets.

The collections on the brass band parade, at the church service and in the venues on Saturday night, will again go to the children’s charities we have adopted. Julia’s House is a local organisation that provides hospice care and respite for gravely ill young people and their parents; Casa Alianza is a group that provides support and protection to street children in several Latin American countries; and Afrikids works with local organisations in Ghana to create a better quality of life for vulnerable children. (In 2010, you helped raise nearly £2000 for which the three charities are very grateful).

Fred Lindop, Artistic Director