A major music festival will present concerts in memory of singer and former Cowling woman Jessica Foxley.

The Colne Rhythm and Blues Festival will launch a new stage giving young aspiring singers and musicians the chants to perform in front of a live audience.

The music festival, one of the biggest in the UK, is held over the August Bank Holiday.

Singer Jessica had just started achieving musical success when she died in a car crash in July aged 21.

The stage idea is the brainchild of her parents Paul and Margaret Foxley and her brother, Oliver, of Laneshawbridge.

It is part of their new music project called Fast Forward for which they are hoping to get charity status.

Margaret said: “It is still in the early stages but we are hoping to have an audition process for people from the Pendle area who want to perform on the stage.

"It will be open to solo artists as well as groups.”

Jessica, who worked for Pendle Leisure Trust, was born in Cowling but moved to Colne with her family at the age of 10.

She played the piano and cello, had recorded a song for a Sky advertisement and had begun to write lyrics, with two of her songs due to be played on Radio 2 in the New Year.