Neighbours in Peace – Hello from Festival of Peace Croydon!
Wishing all our friends at Little Big Peace a very wonderful International Peace Day.
This year, in awareness of the centenary of the end of WWI, we held a week long Festival of Peace in Croydon featuring 37 borough-wide arts and community events. At the heart of the festival were two community performances of the London Mozart Players Anthem for Peace, an inclusive modern day peace anthem composed by children’s composer Richard Brown with lyrics by local Thornton Heath poet Shaniqua Benjamin. The Anthem was performed with children from Ecclesbourne School at Summer of Love Festival Wandle Park and with an accompanying community dance piece created by Anusha Subramanyam at Park Hill Park.
The week was a wide-scale collaboration between established community partners and artists from both within and beyond the borough and demonstrated what is possible when we all join hands, hearts and voices for peace. Ongoing projects for peace have grown from the seeds planted, including two community peace gardens. Research by local historian Sean Creighton also revealed that we were building on a rich legacy of peace activism in the borough – our Festival of Peace echoed Peace Weeks held in the 1920s and 30s.
For World Peace Day this week, we will again be coming together to celebrate Peace – Croydon Peace Tree and Park Hill Park Community Peace Garden are collaborating on a display of Peace Messages, local community choirs will perform the Anthem for Peace at the LMP’s 70th Birthday Season Launch and there will be a Peace Parade in Crystal Palace Food Market including singing of Peace songs to tune in with the global movement One Day One Choir.
We really love the thought that just a few miles away our neighbours in Streatham will be celebrating too and send our very best peaceful wishes for a wonderful celebration of World Peace Day. By sharing and affirming what we are all doing collectively around the world, we grow in awareness of the strength, beauty and creativity of the peace movement, building towards a world where everyday is a peaceful day.
Katie Rose, Director, Festival of Peace Croydon.
