It appears that normality won't be returning anytime soon and freelance musicians are one of the ones falling through the gaps of government assistance. So we are trying to help the second lot of musicians we had to cancel at the East Side in the summer.

We managed to raise £250 for the first few bands we cancelled. These are some of the responses we had from the musicians

" OH that is so kind of you - — I know in particular ** and ** will be very pleased as they have young families and mouths to feed. Its a very tough time indeed .....

Please say a HUGE thank you to all and say just how much it was appreciated."

" Thank you so much - - its very humbling to have the jazz audience showing such appreciation and understanding in a very difficult time"

"Just dropping a personal note to say a huge thanks for fundraising this cancellation money for some of the covid-affected dates - that is extremely above-and-beyond of you and shows just what a committed and truly supportive jazz club you are! Many thanks and do hope things can start returning to normal for us all soon.

"This is so kind and so much appreciated, it’s still one of the hardest and longest situations I’ve ever known in my career, I’ve never had such long gaps between work and at the moment no sign of coming back this year , or even early next year."

" I just had an email from ** informing me of your very kind offer of a cancellation fee from the March gig. Thank you very much for this, it is greatly appreciated"

"Thank you very much for the email and the concern for the musicians, any help is really more than welcome."

"This is amazing news, how lovely and caring. Thank you so much!! It helps, certainly. "

"That's very good news. It certainly helps and the guys will appreciate it a lot"