Popular music maestro Jim is looking ahead to festive season

And so it was that Christmas carols rang round a local garden centre as a well-known entertainer raised money for the Poppy Appeal!

This unique collision between two very different events was made necessary by the Government’s lockdown against coronavirus.

And keyboard maestro Jim Taylor wanted to do as much as possible in the time available both to entertain and boost Royal British Legion funds before Remembrance Day.

The 71-year-old is probably best known for having serenaded shoppers in the now defunct Marks and Spencer store on Standishgate for 18 years.

But since that closed he has been seen performing outside the Tesco Extra at Central Park and also at the Golden Days garden centre in Appley Bridge.

It was at the latter of those venues that he was able to give his last indoor recital before at least December 2 and put in a good four hours during the morning and afternoon.

And he chose to intersperse his programme with a few festive hits from his repertoire for a number of reasons.

Jim said: “I wouldn’t usually be playing Christmas music yet, but with most shops shut for the next four weeks, it was a reminder that there aren’t that many shopping days left to the big one and it was also a reminder that, hopefully, this latest lockdown will soon be over, by which time we will definitely be in the build-up for Christmas.

“But the cause I was raising money for is a more immediate one: the Poppy Appeal, which has probably taken a hit this year with fewer people being out and about and with so many shops and hospitality places using plastic cards these days for sanitary reasons.

“People don’t seem to have as much change in their pocket as they used to, so I was glad to do my bit.”

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