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Festival tribute to be held in memory of Colne singer
A NEW music stage will be held at next year's annual Rhythm and Blues Festival in memory of Colne singer Jessica Foxley, it has been announced.
It will be launched by a new musical project called "Fast Forward", headed by Jessica's parents Paul and Margaret Foxley, who are hoping to give it charity status.
They hope the stage, held during the August Bank Holiday event in Colne, will allow young aspiring singers and musicians like Jessica, who died in a car crash in July, the opportunity to perform in front of a live audience.
A meeting was held this week with key people involved in the local music and theatre industry to find a way forward with the overall project.
They included Phil Storey, the chief executive of Pendle Leisure Trust, who confirmed the tribute stage would go ahead on the festival's 21st year, which, poignantly, was Jessica's age when she died.
Jessica worked for the Trust, as did her boyfriend Thomas Petty (25) and their friend Philip Wright (25), who were also killed in the crash in Skipton Old Road.
Mrs Foxley said: "We are all in agreement that we have many groups and organisations in place in the area which are extremely successful in developing and supporting young people's musical talent.
"However, as soon as they become 18 and can no longer be members of the 'youth' organisations and quite frankly don't want to be, their musical development tends to stop.
"This was when Jessica really had quite a hard time in moving things forward for herself, musically, and it is so sad that she had battled on and was just beginning to experience musical success before she died.
"In fact the night before her death she had given her first performance and was so excited when she was approached that night by someone who was going to put more work her way."
Although the project is only in its interim stage, Mr and Mrs Foxley, an architect and a teacher who live in Laneshaw Bridge, said they hope it will, once developed, "inspire" and "empower" talent individuals whatever their musical passion.
In delivering a presentation at the Lesser Muni, in Colne, Mr Foxley said: "Jessica was delighted when she found someone to help her produce music in a recording studio. It was something she had craved for a long time. We would always tell her she was marvellous, but she wanted that feedback and additional reassurance.
"There are a lot of talented people in Colne and Pendle like Jessica, but a lot of people are not doing anything with their talent.
"It would be great if we could turn Colne's loss into Colne's gain."
Further meetings are planned to develop clearer objectives for the project.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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