The life and times of one of Ealing's many musical marvels will be celebrated this week.
Albert 'Bev' Bowles-Bevan, who passed away last week aged 89, was born in the Glamorgan village of Mountain Ash in 1925 but moved to Hanwell aged five when his father, a former miner, landed a job on the Great West Railway.
Bev, who would always go by his adopted monicker as he hated his real name, would stay in Hanwell for the rest of his life, and certainly left his mark on the local music scene.
Hanwell would become famed for being the place where Jim Marshall developed his first amplifiers, which would go on to be used by some of the biggest names in rock music.
But a stone's throw away, Bev was heavily involved with an altogether different local music scene, most notably with the Hanwell & Ealing Operatic Society and Southall Operatic, and was also the choir master at St Thomas' Church in Hanwell.
A musical director and and chorus master with the BBC, Bev also worked for Ealing Council for many years, and it was through his involvement with the local authority that he really left his mark.
Ealing had built a fine musical reputation of it's own, not least due to the Alexis Korner's Ealing Club, which was an early gigging venue for the likes of the Rolling Stones, The Who and Eric Clapton.
Such bands would have been enjoyed by Bev's son Gareth – one of two children, Sian being the other, who survive him, as well as four grandchildren – but while Jagger and co would have viewed most parents of their fans as squares, Bev showed he was a actually a cool cat.
For while classical music was his job, his real passion was jazz, and in 1984 he decided to set up a local jazz festival with fellow enthusiast Dick Esmond.
What started out as a small venture watched by a handful of people on a bandstand in Walpole Park has mushroomed into a one of the country's best known jazz festivals, watched by thousands each summer on a specially-constructed auditorium in the same park, as well as around local parks.
Gareth said: “The fact that there were so many musicians living locally was the reason my father and his friend set up the festival. He was very proud to see how much it grew over the years and would still get involved each year.”
The funeral will take place at St Thomas the Apostle Church in Boston Road, Hanwell, from noon tomorrow (Tuesday).
Last summer saw thousands enjoy the 30th Ealing Jazz Festival over five days, as our picture gallery shows, and more of the same is expected at this year's event, which will run from Wednesday, July 29 to Sunday, August 2 at the usual venues.
