Music lovers can win a piece of exclusive Black Sabbath memorabilia, while also supporting the jazz festival taking place in the heavy metal band’s home town of Birmingham.

Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has demonstrated his support for this year’s Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival by signing a copy of the official festival programme. The autographed 64-page programme, which includes information about the musicians and venues taking part, as well as a day-to-day listing of all 189 concerts and other events, is now up for auction online.

The signing took place in Velvet Music Rooms in Broad Street, the official information point for the 10-day festival starting this Friday, July 14 and continuing until July 23, and just up the road from the famous Black Sabbath bench.

Proceeds from the auction, which is now live for online sealed bids, will go towards the cost of staging the 40th annual jazz festival in 2024. Sabbath fans now have 10 days to make an offer for the signed programme before the deadline for online bids is reached at midnight on July 21.

The auction then switches to a live finale at Velvet Music Rooms on Sunday, July 23 - the final day of the festival.

Jim Simpson, the original Black Sabbath manager and organizer of the festival, said: “We want to say a big ‘thank you’ to Tony for his kind gesture. We will be re-opening bids from the room at Velvet, with the price starting from where bidding got to in the online auction. This will be from 8pm, in between the two bands that are performing on the night – the Nils Solberg Rhythm Boys from 6pm to 8pm, and The Windy City Weatherbirds from 8.30pm. It will be interesting to see if the sealed online bids win the day, or if anyone in the live audience can exceed it. Either way, the money raised from the auction will go towards the staging of next year’s festival, so we hope people bid generously.”

Mike Olley, general manager of Westside BID, one of the festival’s main sponsors, said: “We are really privileged to have this annual jazz and blues festival in the city, with many of the concerts and events taking place right here on Westside. It obviously costs money to organize and stage this fabulous event each year, especially with most of the concerts being free, so we would urge supporters to dig deep and make a bid for this programme, signed by the legend that is Tony Iommi.”

As well as the autographed festival programme, the winner of the auction will also receive a photograph of Tony signing it.

Remember, sealed bids for the signed programme can be made by emailing admin@bigbearmusic.com.

The 39th Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival will consist of 189 performances, with 61 taking place on Westside. For more information about the festival, visit here.