BRECON Jazz Festival is getting some extra notes this year from the local business sector.

Williams Medical Supp-lies of Rhymney has doubled its existing sponsorship of the festival to coincide with the event's 21st anniversary.

The £30m turnover company is too shy to quantify how much it is spending on the event, a spokesman only confirming it was a four-figure sum.

Williams is the UK's largest distributor of medical products to the primary care sector and has directed its sponsorship towards Brecon's Bishop's Garden venue and the weekend schedule of events planned there.

Managing director Jon Wilks said: "Brecon has made its mark on the international festival circuit, and we are happy to support the event and help maintain its cutting edge position.

"In addition to high-profile concerts, the festival provides an excellent family day out as a broad variety of events take place throughout the town." Many of Williams' 130 employees will be attending, in particular, Kelly Hughes from the customer services team.

She attends the Brecon and Glastonbury festivals every year and has studied violin to grade 4 and piano to grade 2.

This year she's hoping to catch the Amy Winehouse show on Saturday night.

The Bishop's Garden forms part of the stroller programme of events which costs £39 for a weekend ticket or £25 for the Saturday and £19.50 for the Sunday.

It gives access to 60 live performances but does not include headline acts like Amy Winehouse or Omara Portuondo of Buena Vista Social club fame.

Dennis Rollins and Georgie Fame are also playing.

Numerous street events are planned which are free to watch so you don't need to buy tickets to enjoy a day out.

The festival starts on Friday and runs till Sunday night.