A Free Music Festival was held at Murphy's Distillery and Bar, Liverpool
Tony Higginson, Beyond Books.

KEITH Daniel Roberts is 1 of Liverpool's many unsung heroes, he is involved in many social community projects and is an accomplished Singer/Songwriter and musician in Incipio a trio of high regard in the North West. On Saturday, 25 September 2021, Murphy's Bar, is at the far end of the Dock Road, Liverpool, next to 10 Streets Social and is run by 3 brothers who 1st distilled their own magnificent gin, then decided to open a venue to sell it.

After lockdown they decided to start doing Open Mic's and Comedy Night's which are always popular, you can see and hear wonderful talent near home at the fraction of the cost ( or free) of going to big events.

Every Wednesday they have a regular Singer/Songwriter Open Mic and a Writer's Night on Thursdays which is run by Mark Sebastian D'Lacey of Fleur de Lis studios, this allows poets, performance artists and actors to get a stage as well as Singer/Songwriters, generally no covers, but if it's a relevant 1 then it's allowed. They also host regular Comedy Night's and Cabaret's too.

Keith wanted to run a charity festival for Cookson's pub in Netherton, but sadly they weren't able to get an outdoor performance licence and this left him feeling a bit downbeat, he was 1 of the inaugural performers at Murphy's when Mark started the Writer's night and he discussed moving the festival to the bar, they kindly agreed, set a date and laid on superb homemade food at really affordable prices.

Keith recruited some stellar performers and some fresh new talent to each perform for 25 minutes, from 1pm through to 10pm, with his band Incipio headlining.

His energy and passion for live music was apparent, he opened the Festival with a crowd pleasing set, he also played percussion with Andrew Hesford 1 of Liverpool's most acclaimed singers and who is headlining, at the Philharmonic Dining rooms, on weds 10 November 2021, with support from multi instrumentalist David Holden and Herringbone John and Mark Francis Tully.

Keith also found that 1 of the bar staff was a singer, so they rehearsed in her break and she hit the stage to do a wonderful duet with him of a Maroon 5 classic.

The whole day was so relaxed, families attended with children getting maybe their 1st taste of live music and local food, Peawhack and Scouse!

Virginia Haze was the 1st top billing and as usual her set of original material was just stunning, she has a CD out and we'd highly recommend folks following her on Facebook and going to see her in the NW. Keith wanted to showcase younger talent too, we had stunning sets by 16 year old Milley Munro and duo Ellie and Mason, all of them were accomplished in their delivery and musicianship, we have a bright future for culture in Liverpool it seems.

The showcase set by Mark Sebastian D'Lacey to promote his EP Gypsy Soul was an early highlight, he always has gigs in the evenings so to get him at the festival was quite a coup. Mark has a brilliant voice, he can cover everything from Tom Waits growl to Opera and everything in between.

William Nicholas is a superb singer, his voice is powerful and he really pours his heart into his performances, he was joined by Keith for a roof raising version of a Stained song.

Mark Francis Tully and John Albert Hall are stalwarts of the Liverpool live scene, they play in many guises and Mark's Peacemakers are due to reform after 8 years in October, keep an eye out for dates, they can reach 30 members for bigger gigs. John is a blues guitarist and singer and they also write and perform their own unique blend of fusion rock, Mark is a virtuoso bass player he has an 8 and a 12 string bass he regularly uses for gigs. Their material is witty and really rocks, Intercity Blues Train and Radio Active are firm favourites.

Andrew Hesford is recording material for a follow up to his highly regarded CD Any Moment Now, his songs are superbly crafted and always pack an emotional punch, he is working with many local musicians and is due to record a Narrowboat session, that took place on Monday, 4 October 2021.

David Holden is a superb multi instrumentalist and singer/songwriter, he played guitar, recorder and mandolin pretty much at the same time and his debut EP is due for release at the 10 November gig, at the Philharmonic Dining Rooms, ticket are now on sale online.

Connor Proudfoot is another huge voice and mega talent, he ended the acoustic sets before the bands took to the stage.

Keep an eye out for local gigs and Open mics, support local and live music and put 4 December 2021 in your diaries for a Christmas Cracker, at Murphy's, as well as 14 December 2021, for the launch of Sebastian and the Poor Valley Marauders single.

Bill Esterson MP backs Waspi women at Labour Party conference

THE Sefton Central MP Bill Esterson is backing 1950's born women in their fight for a fair state pension following an Ombudsman ruling that women were not properly informed about the changes. Mr Esterson visited campaigners at the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) stand at the Labour Party Conference to hear how they had been affected by the changes to the state pension age for women. The Ombudsman recently ruled that the changes to the state pension age, which lifted the pension age for women from 60 to 66 over the period 2010 to 2020, were not adequately communicated to women. Mr Esterson says this means thousands of women had no chance to make other arrangements to compensate, many of them giving up work to take on caring roles, or taking redundancy, believing they would access their state pension at 60.

Mr Esterson said:- "I have been a long time supporter of this campaign. It is a huge injustice to women who have worked so hard all their lives, many of them without the ability to build up a private pension, providing care for their children and often elderly relatives too, to be led to believe they would retire at 60, to find out at such a late stage that it would in fact be years later. At the last election I supported the Labour commitment to compensate these women, to ensure dignity and security for all. It is right that the pension age for women and men becomes equalised, but these women have paid a heavy price after mismanagement of the situation by the Government, which decided to speed up the changes after 2016."

Mr Esterson personally supported the Ombudsman complaint of a constituent, and has written to the Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions on behalf of many affected residents. The Waspi women say they agree with equalisation of the state pension age but want fair transitional arrangements for all women who have been affected by the changes, such as a:-"bridging" pension to provide an income until State Pension Age, and recompense for losses for those women who have already reached their state pension age.

Mr Esterson said the Government should:- "right this wrong" and provide compensation for those affected. Commenting on it:- "The way these changes were communicated to women has been shown to have been flawed. Many women have had to wait another 6 years, which has resulted in undue hardship because many have been unable to get back into work. The decision by the Conservative Government to increase the speed at which these changes came into effect simply compounded the issues. Women should have been informed earlier and more steps should have been taken to ensure that the general public was aware of the upcoming changes. The Government has let down these women and left many people tens of thousands of pounds worse off. The Government needs to right this wrong."

The next stage of the Ombudsman investigation will look at what losses were incurred due to the DWP's maladministration. Around 3.8 million women have been affected and many say they were either not informed at all or were informed too late to make necessary adjustments.

You can read more about the Waspi campaign and the asks here. The WASPI campaign was set up to campaign on the issue of State Pension age (SPA) increases affecting women born in the 1950's. The Pensions Act 1995 legislated for it to increase from 60 to 65 over the period 2010 to 2020. The Pensions Act 2011 accelerated the latter part of this increase, starting in April 2016 when it was 63, so that it would reach 65 in November 2018 and then increase to 66 by October 2020.