There will be staged performances of live music, dance and spoken word in Trumble Gardens which is the backdrop for the Lumiere light installations.

The music, art and light festival is a great opportunity to showcase local talent and has been produced by CR7 Culture in conjunction with Think Events and Artichoke.

It will also see the first night-time food and drink market organised by CR7 Market.

Saturday’s event (January 27) from 4pm to 9pm has been funded by the council as part of Croydon’s bid to become the 2019 Borough of Culture.

The line up features up and coming artists like soul singer Dede Davi as well as established acts like Stush and West End dance star of Thriller – Alex KO who has recently launched his singing career.

In addition to the wealth of musical talent other performing arts are also represented such as the South London collective Well Versed Ink. They will be delivering powerful poetry and spoken word while students from two local dance schools will be setting the stage alight with their routines.

Lumiere is supported by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and organisers are still waiting to see whether he will accept an invitation to attend the Thornton Heath event.

4-4.20pm: DJ Dave Koor opens the festival with world music and jazz. Local DJ, producer and musician, Dave, was born and brought up in Thornton Heath. His love of music and the desire to support local talent led to the conception of Albert’s Favourites, the label he now runs with Drop and Scrimshire,which is quickly becoming one of South London’s go-to record labels.

4.20-4.40pm: Mitra Djalili was once compared to Corinne Bailey Rae and Amy Winehouse when she played on BBC Radio extra. She describes her sound as soulful jazz and has just recorded an album in LA. Mitra has also sung on film soundtracks as her husband is a composer. ‘Listening’ is a sci fi film on Netflix, as is ‘Beautiful Wave’ both Hollywood independent features she sang on.

4.40-4.50pm: Well Versed Ink performers will appear throughout the festival. Well Versed is a community interest company based in Thornton Heath that aims to empower communities through poetry by hosting workshops and events for children, young people and adults. They currently work with Croydon-based schools and mental health charities, as well as running a monthly poetry night at Boxpark. Well Versed are also heading up a new poetry festival in Croydon.

4.50-5pm: Touch Base Dance Academy performance: The Thornton Heath based dance school is fun and encouraging offering five different dance styles: ballet, jazz, contemporary, commercial, street dance, hip hop and a heels class for and aged adults.

5-5.10pm: Well Versed

5.10-5.20pm: Music Relief performance: The More Than Able leadership programme aims to engage and empower young people through youth ambassadors whose roles are to speak out for the young people and be instrumental in influencing policymakers.

5.20-5.30pm: Well Versed

5.30-6.10pm: Skamonics are rooted in the ska, rocksteady and early reggae of 1960s Jamaica. Together since 2004, their drummer Mark Huggett is from Thornton Heath. Their extensive repertoire takes in authentic 60s classics,  West End clubs to East London pubs, festival stages to weddings and vintage days. The Skamonics have filled dance floors and won repeat bookings – even playing at the Jamaican High Commission.

6.10-6.20pm: Young Girls Thrive performance: YGT based in Thornton Heath aims to empower and motivate young women aged 12-21 years old; by challenging them in order to reach their full potential in life.

6.20-6.30pm: Well Versed

6.30-7pm: Folk band Slavyane:  Established in 2000 the band performs a wide variety of music from various regions of Russia and Ukraine at numerous venues including Croydon. One of their highlights was when the band performed at the Russian Embassy at an event attended by Prince Michael of Kent. The band also participates in music contests and has been successful in winning first prize at Sutton Festival.

7-7.10pm: Well Versed

7.10-7.20pm: Kuntal School of Bollywood

7.20-7.30pm: Well Versed

7.30-7.50: Dedi Davi: Born and bred in Thornton Heath. Soul singer Dede first recorded song found its way on to the BBC 1xtra playlist. Dede wrote and recorded ‘Calling the Clock’ with Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode fame which charted at No 11 in the German alternative charts. Just before the end of 2017 she performed two songs on London Live TV.

7.50-8pm: Well Versed

8-8.20pm: Alex KO has been starring in the West End hit musical Thriller Live for the last five years, dazzling audiences as a lead vocalist. Now Alex, a model, who lives in Throton Heath is concentrating on his solo music career and has been hard at work in the studio following the release of a Christmas single.

8.20-8.30pm: Well Versed

8.30-8.50pm: Stush is one of the pioneers of UK underground music, having broken through with Dollar Sign then having a UK top ten hit with Groove Armada. She has performed at festivals across the world including Glastonbury. A resident of Thornton Heath for 25 years, Stush recently released her first single from her forthcoming EP entitled ‘RDM’ called Ah Me Dat’ a high energy track in which she describes doing things her own way.

8.50-9pm: DJ Dave Koor will close the event

In addition to hosting the Light Festival Thornton Heath residents have been instrumental in helping to create some of the elements within the festival.

Community groups and local schools were mobilised to collect 1,250 plastic bottles, which were then up-cycled at art workshops – run by local artist Karen Barnett – into long garlands ready to be lit up as amazing life size chandeliers.

These festoon chandeliers are part of the Lumiere London project and were transported to Central London as part of the display. They will be back in Thornton Heath on display at a location to be announced.

The festoon workshops were  sponsored by Westfield/Hammerson.

CR7 Culture www.cr7culture.co.uk

CR7 Street Market www.cr7market.co.uk

Lumiere London www.lumiere-festival.com

Croydon Borough of Culture 2019 Bid www.croydon2019.london