The Thornton Heath Chronicle can   exclusively reveal plans for a Thornton Heath Light Festival.

For one day only, on January 27, Trumble Gardens on Brigstock Road will be transformed in to a magical wonderland.

This free outdoor arts event will feature spectacular light installations plus live performances, spoken word and dance.

The event is part of Croydon 2019, Croydon’s bid for the London Borough of Culture title and further details will be announced on December 1, when the bid is submitted to the Mayor of London.

The workshops and programming for the festival will be coordinated by CR7Culture, the new cultural partnership in Thornton Heath and includes pre workshops to help animate the installations. The Light Festival will coincide with the second CR7 Market, featuring arts and crafts along with food and drink stalls.

Up-and-coming spoken word artist Shaniqua Benjamin from Thornton Heath features as the face of Croydon’s culture bid in an on-line campaign.

In the video which sees Thornton Heath as the back drop for the poetry reading Shaniqua explains the potential and diversity of culture in Croydon and Thornton Heath, which has the highest number  of under 25s in London.

Thornton Heath has also become synonymous with grime and The Heath features in the lyrics of Krept and Konan’s latest mix Ask Flipz which features fellow CR7 local Stormzy.