Hedsor’s Jazz News this week has a degree of bad news. Our leader on trombone since the turn of the century will now have to have a few weeks of Chemotherapy. Clive has a lymphatic cancer (non-Hodgkin lymphoma).

He still wants to come and be the “leader of the band” when he can, but often he will not feel well enough, and may well not be able to come even when he has committed to coming. So our regular Thursday night session will be a little different. We will of course continue with them, and always with first class players, but sometimes we wont be able to tell you who will be there in front of our regular rhythm section. Mike Wills will be available most (but not all) weeks.

We will keep to our commitment to run a fundraiser for Cancer Research UK , with even more emphasis perhaps, on May 18^th. The great news is that we have JUST BOOKED Nigel Price for this.

Our advertised evening (April 13^th) with Tracey Mendham has also got to be rearranged as she has now been asked to play on a gig that will earn her 6 times what we can pay, so we will be getting her later in the month/year.

It is often the case that you don’t realise how much someone contributes to what we enjoy that we don’t know about. Clive has been bringing the PA every week and the raffle prizes (OK I know we all make a contribution, but he has always got a bag full of goodies ready for distribution) and although guest musicians are suggested to him, he is the one to books them. So some adjustments will have to be made. BUT we do always want Clive to feel able to come whenever he feels he can. Therefore our plans may be more fluid than usual.

I do hope you will bear with us during this period of Clive’s treatment. We may be able to put on some more varied music than is usual but we will not loose sight of the fact that Hedsor Jazz, no matter who or what individuals contribute towards it, is Clive’s gig. He will be with us tomorrow night.