I don't know how many of you like to stop on the streets and listen to buskers, maybe even give them a couple of spare coins you have lying in your pocket. If you see a person with a charity box at any of the Jazz Festival events, it won't be for the artist. For the past twenty years, the generosity of Birmingham International Jazz Festival has paid for the training of a guide dog by the 'Guide Dogs for the Blind' charity. The lucky dog then goes on to be named after a noted personality in that year's Jazz Festival. This year he or she is going to be called Whitby, after the head of Birmingham City Council - Mike Whitby. A good name for a dog if you ask me.
If you see a person with a blue charity bucket with a plastic dog on top (like a doggy bank) at any of our events, don't forget to give generously to a great cause.