The Whitgift Almshouses Pic: www.zooqy.net
The first edition of the Croydon Heritage Festival will start on Monday 3 June and will take place in various locations in the borough until 23 June.
More than 150 events have been designed to celebrate Croydon’s past, present and future during the three weeks.
The festival is organised by the Whitgift Foundation in partnership with more than 50 local groups and organisations. The Whitgift Foundation, founded in 1596, has been active in Croydon for more than 400 years, caring for the elderly and educating the young.
Martin Corney, chief executive of the Whitgift Foundation says : “As well as being a celebration of the town’s heritage, the festival provides us with an opportunity to demonstrate our passion for Croydon and help to improve the reputation of the town.
Catherine Shirley, marketing manager of the foundation, adds : “This event gave us the opportunity to engage with many local groups and I think we wouldn’t have been able to organise this without their support”.
The events scheduled for the festival will be diverse as they expect to cater to a wide variety of visitors. “We are proud to be able to deliver a programme which really does feature something for everyone” said Corney.
Programmes on offer to the public range from talks and tours around historic parts of the borough, to films screenings and photography. Some special challenges will also be organised for children and a number of theatre and music events are scheduled to happen in Matthews Yard, a unique multipurpose venue in the centre of Croydon’s Old Town.
One of the hightlights will be organised tours of the Whitgift Almshouses on 8 June. This tour, according to Shirley, will give visitors the opportunity to step back more than 400 years in the past and visit one of Croydon’s historic landmarks. 8 June, which the organisers also observe as Croydon Heritage Day, will feature another exciting event, a historically themed costume and dress-up competition in Croydon Town Centre.
On the last day of the event, the 23 June, a food festival will take place. For more information, visit their site here.
