I was delighted to attend the Coulsdon & Purley Festival Concert and Prize Giving event held on Saturday 23rd April and to have the opportunity to present so many wonderful prizes to so many talented young people.
The joy which music and performance brings is immeasurable and we have certainly all missed the live experience over the past few years – although ‘hats off’ to the Coulsdon & Purley Festival for keeping going via Zoom and YouTube for 2020 and 2021.
All of which made the Purley and Coulsdon Festival this year particularly special and it was a real treat to be present and to be able to hand out dozens of cups and awards to so many local young people.
The event on Saturday was the culmination of many sessions hosted by the Festival since March across a number of local venues and featured some 1215 outstanding speech, drama and musical contributions.
As a Sanderstead councillor, along with my Ward colleagues, I have in recent years been delighted to support this wonderful charity which has been going since 1944 – that’s a very long time;
- a huge number of performers
- and also an amazing number of Festival committee members, stewards and clerks - all of whom volunteer their time to ensure the legacy of this Festival is kept alive and continues to provide a first class opportunity to celebrate the outstanding talent amongst our young people in Croydon.
My thanks to Mr Hempsey and his Committee for all the very hard work which they have put in with producing this highly successful Festival
- and to all the Adjudicators who were clearly very challenged by some very difficult decisions with their judging;
- to the Accompanists whom we really couldn’t manage without;
- to the parents and friends who came along to support;
- to the teachers ;
- and to all the young performers who took part in the dozens of different classes;
- and most especially for those who gave such exceptional performances in the end of Festival Concert
Thank you all for the most wonderful afternoon.
Finally, you may wish to have a look at the Coulsdon & Purley Festival website for news of how to take part next year: http://www.coulsdonpurleyfestival.co.uk/
