COLCHESTER Jazz Club is on the move after a quarter of a century.

For the last 25 years, one of the town’s longest-running music events has been held at the Stanway Rovers Football Club, but now the organisers who run the club have decided to move to Marks Tey Village Hall.

David Bailey, jazz club chairman, says: “We have had some really happy times at the football club, but now we have decided to move to Marks Tey, which is even better equipped to meet the needs of the club and allow room to expand our current membership.”

Colchester Jazz Club was founded in 1956 for the purpose of promoting traditional New Orleans jazz music and to provide a venue where members can socialise, dance or just listen to a live jazz band every Sunday evening.

Over the years, the club has played host to countless bands from all parts of the country and the globe, some from as far away as Australia, Canada, Holland, Sweden and America.

Stars such as Humphrey Lyttelton, Chris Barber, George Melly, Monty Sunshine, and Acker Bilk have played there. The first band to play the new venue this Sunday will be the John Maddocks Jazzmen, from Dorset.

The groups making up the rest of the month will be Yorkshire’s finest the Savannah Jazz Band, on Sunday March 24, and then Chris Pearce and his Frenchman Street Jazz Band, who come from Gloucester, who will play on March 31.

Doors open at the Old London Road hall at 7.15pm with the music starting at 7.45pm.

Admission is £7 for members and £9 for non-members.

For more information, go online at colchesterjazzclub.co.uk or call 01206 330836.