Archive for the ‘Lifestyle’ Category

Behind the music scenes at Croydon College

When being interviewed for the 123 Testing contest, students on a music course couldn’t praise highly enough the tuition received at Croydon College. Their sheer enthusiasm for the department and its teaching moved Patsy Payne to find out more from lecturer Andy Ebsworth

WHILE a new annexe to the main Fairfield college goes ahead, the college’s music department is housed in temporary accommodation in Davidson Road.

The tutor who greets me is professional musician Andy Ebsworth who up to a decade ago was still touring until he met up with live production and staging specialist, John Trehern, studio manager at the college.

Said Andy: “Without a doubt it is John Trehern who built this department to what it is from it’s early beginnings.

“He directed it to where we are now and for the last five or six years we have been bearing the fruit.”

Croydon Morris dancers call for more members to…

A band of Croydon Morris dancers are looking for men (and women!) to join them and be part of an old English tradition.

As the daylight begins to lengthen, Morris sides throughout England are stepping up their efforts to present a truly traditional spectacle at festivals, country fairs and outside pubs.

Croydon’s Wild Hunt Bedlam Morris is no exception and at its practice sessions every Tuesday evening in the Scout Hall, St James’s Road, West Croydon, the walls vibrate to the sound of robust Morris tunes and clashing sticks.

Whitgift School prepares to present Carmen to…

With a cast of more than 100 in a fully-staged and costumed opera to produce – Whitgift School have risen to the challenge magnificently. Carmen has been almost a year in the planning and taken months of practice, stage set building, costume making and repeated refining. Patsy Payne caught up with Rosie Whitfield, the school’s Director of Music Development

Looking back at the grand final of Croydon’s…

Camille Harding looks back at the grand final of the Testing 123 music competition

You would think that hearing Beyonce’s Crazy in Love six times in the space of a couple of hours would be enough to drive you, well, crazy.

But not when each version is unique, sung in such diverse ways ranging from jazz to heavy rock, and not when it is performed by some of the most gifted youngsters in the South East.

Croydon to welcome the London Community Gospel…

Croydon is to play host to the London Community Gospel Choir – as they sing ITV’s new FA Cup theme Abide With Me.

This features 13-year-old James Donaghey as part of the collective of some of the finest voices in the country.

The power and the beauty of the choir has already been witnessed at Glastonbury, on the soundtrack for the Disney smash hit The Lion King and live on the pitch at the Wembley FA Cup Final.

Croydon playwright returns to borough with new…

A Croydon-born playwright, returns to the town which set him on his career path, with a brand new play at The Warehouse Theatre.

Robert Farrar has enjoyed a successful career as a screenwriter both in America and the UK and his return to Croydon is pivotal.