OUR MONTHLY MEETINGS ARE CHANGING TO LEIGH COMMUNITY CENTRE AS FROM 1ST NOVEMBER 2022 AND TO THE FIRST TUESDAY IN THE MONTH
MEETINGS COMMENCE AT 2.30. DOORS WILL OPEN AT 2.00.
Our monthly meetings are held on the 1st Tuesday of the month at
Leigh Community Centre
71 – 73 Elm Road
Leigh-on-Sea SS9 1SP.
PLEASE NOTE THAT DOORS ARE NOT OPEN UNTIL 2.00PM. Access to the hall is via the ground floor café so if you do arrive early stop and chat with friends over a cuppa in the café.
Meetings will usually start with notices and any items of group news, followed by a guest speaker. Refreshments are available afterwards so members can chat to friends or maybe the speaker.
There is no charge for attendance and not only that but you can get a cuppa at the end all free of charge; so pretty good value.
There are small pay-and-display car parks in Elm Road (at rear of Leigh Community Centre/Police Station) and off North Street (east of the Wesley Methodist Church) but these do fill quickly. Parking on nearby streets is limited so please check local parking restrictions.
If you have any suggestions for speakers, please contact our Speaker Secretary by clicking the link.
It is helpful to know what you think of our Speakers, please give feedback here.
- This event has passed.
Southend Jazz Centre and the National Jazz Archives
March 7, 2023 @ 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Digby Fairweather became a fulltime jazzman in 1977 after twelve years as a qualified
librarian in Southend-on-Sea working night by exhausting night in everything from local
soul and dance bands to avant-garde jazz ensembles in Southend and all over his
home-county of Essex. In 1971 he formed his first ‘Half Dozen’ to play his preferred music
– Swing and Dixieland – and from 1973 began working his way up the ladder as a junior
partner in established jazz bands led by professionally qualified musicians including
Hugh Rainey, David ‘Eggy’ Ley and Eric Silk and later with Keith Nichols, Ron Russell and
Lennie Hastings. He was also privileged to work with trumpeter Alex Welsh’s band
(frequently as Welsh’s deputy) and recorded his first album with Welsh’s band in 1974.
“Alex was a dear man” says Digby ” – and very much an adviser as well as a musical
promoter for me. I’ll never forget him”.
