SUMMER SCHOOL
30 August 2011
Tribfest is the focus for FRCA's 4th Summer School
In October last year some of the young people who make up the Freedom Road Collective, Jess, Sammie, Molly, Sammy and Rose where asked to provide the entertainment at an after conference event at the KC Stadium. The organiser of the event was so impressed by the talent that night that he asked if the Charity would be interested in organising an Under 18's Acoustic Marquee at Tribfest 2011. Tribfest, which is hailed as Europe's biggest Tribute Band festival, and which is attended by around 5,000 people, therefore became the focus for our 4th Summer School as we saw it as a great opportunity to do something very new to us all.
As well as having the Collective perform at Tribfest we also spoke to several young people who access the Warren and also to young people who are regulars on the Acoustic scene in and around Hull, to ensure that we had a series of top quality performers. By early August the line up was complete and we were ready to start this years Summer School, which as well as providing everyone with a chance to perform, would also provide everyone with a weekend pass to camp over and watch other bands perfroming at Tribfest.
On Day 1 and Day 2 (Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th) the young people of the Freedom Road Collective met at Northern Theatre to work on their sets which they would perform at Tribfest under the watchful eye of Beney who gave tips on performance and Becky, Jack, Emily and Molly of the Monday drama group were also present to start work on some mimes that they would do in order to create an interest in the Marquee and attract people in.
As well as the serious work there was also time to enjoy the rehearsals and Sammie, Danielle and Shauna provided us with some comedy routines that had us all laughing, and Sam's mimes gave us a welcome change of direction.
Day 3, Friday 19th. We all met at Northern Theatre for 1pm, bags packed and sleeping bags on hand and travelled to Tickton to settle into the palacious accomodation at Tribfets that Mike, Iain, Shobal, Mark and Bobby had built for us, before moving over to the main arena which is where all the Marquees and the Main Stage were situated. This is where loads of bands and acts would be performing over the weekend.
The first performer, in our aptly named Freedom Road Acoustic Marquee, was 14 year old Stevie Mould. Performing songs by Fleetwood Mack amongst others it was difficult to believe that Stevie had only being playing guitar for 4 months and with such a great voice her set was a fantastic opener and set the standard for others to follow.
Next up on the Friday was the Collective's Danielle and Shauna, who having rehearsed so much over the past few months, produced a wonderful set with songs such as "Hey Soul Sister" and "Fix You". Having started with us as a duo the girls are now soloists in their own right and are firm favourites with their distinctive styles!
The 3rd act on Friday was Abbie Lammas who is one of the Warrens major artists. Abbie had been in the recording studio earlier in the dayu putting the finishing touches to her new CD which will be out shortly, and it is easy to see why Abbie has such a reputation, with a set of covers and original songs which had our guys watching on in awe!
The final act on the opening day was Kat Ombler who maintained the quality that had preceded her with a cracking set of songs, and as day one came to a close, the Freedom Road Acoustic Marquee was making waves as the audiences throughout the evening had steadily grown.
So then it was back to the tents for our first night under canvas and by 12.30am it fell almost silent after an exciting day. The only noise that could be heard was from Elle, who had earlier nearly passed out after meeting the lead singer from Metallica tribute band "Mentallica", who had played the main stage, constanly saying "I can't believe he spoke to me, Oh God, I can't believe it"!
Morning broke on Day 4 Saturday 20th of the Summer School with the sun shining and the smell of Eggy Bread cooking on the stove. Coffee and tea was also provided as we prepared ourselves to move over to the main arena and set up for another 7 acts in our Marquee, with a sing song of what had now become the anthem of the Summer School, Jessie J's "Price Tag".
The first acts on in the Freedom Road Acoustic Marquee was Rhiannon Godfrey, closely followed by Sam Arkut. Rhiannon and Sam both perform regular at the Weir Bar in Hessle as part of the growing Acoustic scene and it was very apparant why they are constantly asked back to perform with polished sets.
At this point in the day Becky, Emily, Jack and Molly entered dressed as Pop Icons in terrific outfits designed by themselves and Lisa. Emily was Cindy Lauper, Jack Eminem, Becky was Lady GaGa and Molly was Katie Perry. The 4 had spent time developing mimes of each act performing a classic number associated with them outside the Marquee to help create an interest in what we were doing. Added to this was Sam Blackhurst whose mimes enhanced this idea, and all of a sudden the audiences in the Marquee increased. Great idea and well done!
Following Rhiannon and Sam was The Collective's Rose Elliot whose fantastic versions of "9 Crimes" and Sandi Thom's "Punk Rocker" amongst other songs saw our first full house with people stopping for Rose's full set. It also demonstrated just why we rate Rose so highly. Brilliant!
At 5.15pm The Gleeks took to the stage and after their opening 2 numbers the Marquee was full and rocking again. With all 12 of the Gleeks on stage at one point, Emmy, Olivia, Sally Anne, Toni, Sammie, Luke, Shobal, Elle, Jordan, Celine, Emily and Dione enthralled the audience with their talent and togetherness. Lisa had worked wonders in preparing the Group for Tribfest with outstanding results, coupled with Celine's first ever solo! It made me think that this is exactly why FRCA exists!
So how does the next act follow this? Enter Jess and Livi. Jess has been part of the FRCA set up from day one and performed on a local, regional, national and international stage with the Charity and it has always been a challenge as to how Jess would develop as she matured as an artist. Over the past few months, therefore, Jess has been working with Livi to create her own identity as a singer and performer and this performance at Tribfest was simply superb! The choice of songs, the harmonies and the stage presence were spot on, and with confidence now at a high, hopefully Jess and Livi will keep going and keep working as they have REAL talent!
Dominic Hook took to the stage next bringing a large following who had obviously seen Dom perform at other venues, and with brilliant covers of classics such as "No Woman No Cry", it was easy to see why Dom has such a following with his incredible vocal talent
Closing Day 4 was local band Out of Date whose obvious influences include the Arctic Monkeys. With a series of their own songs mixed in with Arctic Monkeys covers, OOD closed the evening on a high with another packed Marquee.
The main band on the Main Stage that night was a Take That tribute band, and although I missed it, reports that came back to our Canvas Village told of how Toni got so carried away with the performance that her Air Drumming was classic!!
The place fell silent about 1am as everyone was completely shattered, even Sammie was quiet as we all slept in preparation for our final day. We were all woken in the morning by a fresh faced Iain Thonpson, who has spent the night at home watching HD TV and sleeping in a comfy bed. Apparantly Iain has to do some work at home, but we think it's because he was scared of the spiders!!!
Tom Kay opened the 5th day Sunday 21st of the Summer School and final day at Tribfest and continued were we left off yesterday with an outstanding set. The Freedom Road Acoustic Marquee had by now gained a reputation and Tom's set proved just why. I last saw Tom perform a couple of years ago and he was good then. Today he was very very good showing that the hard work and dedication is paying off. Big things ahead for Tom I reckon!!
Connie Rawding followed Tom, and it was nice to see Connie being supported by some musicians from an older generation. (I dont feel too bad now). Connie's wonderful set included a version of Ed Sheeran's "A Team", which had become a firm favourite of the performers, and we hope to see more of Connie's huge talent in the near future.
The next Acoustic performer on the FRA Marquee was the Laura Marlin inspired Georgie Lucas. It was really unfortunate that at this point that in the adjacent VIP Marquee a tribute band to Nirvana were playing, and with Georgie's soft style it became a real issue for Georgie to be able to hear herself. However Georgie's obvious talent shone through as she produced a set with beautiful vocals that has the audience spellbound.
Our next performer was our very own Sammie Watson. Sammie has found music and singing to be a massive positive in her life, and she is constantly popping into the office to rehearse or ringing to arrange extra sessions. This set of Sammie's was therefore a timely reminder as to how powerful music can be in influencing someones life and giving them a real focus. Perfoming numbers such as Adele's "Someone like You" and the Zuton's "Valerie", made famous by the late Amy Winehouse, and being joined by Lou, Danielle and Shauna to perform Price tag, Sammie was just great!!
So as the festival drew to a close our last act entered as the Headline Act, (so no pressure then), Joe McKenzie. Joe began with a cracking version of "Rewind", which saw the Marquee quickly fill for the final time. Joe effortlessly went through his set, concluding with Price Tag as the audience danced and joined in demanding an encore which Joe gladly provided with . . . . . . . you guessed it "Price Tag"!!!!
So that was it. A brilliant, brilliant, enjoyable worthwhile effort made more enjoyable by the young people who attended, performed and above all smiled the whole way through.
See you at Tribfets in 2012.
Ian--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As part of Summer School 2010, pupils were documenting the rehearsals, preparation and final performance of the show, including their own photos and interviews.
DAY 5 (26 August 2010)
The final day finishing with the performance at Fruit.
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DAY 4 (26 August 2010)
Pictures
and words
by Reece Broom.
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN...
As you can see we are working very hard for our big day tomorrow at Fruit, and this is our last day of rehearsals at Northen Theatre. Tomorrow there is going to be dancing, singing, costumes, videos, backdrops and lighting.
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Pictures
and words
by Jordan Davidson.This is Jack Thompson on the last day of rehearsal and he feels excited and been working with Tomo, Garry and the crew. He says "I have been filming and using the mic."
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Pictures
and words
by Dione Phillips & Bethany Nash.LAST DAY RUSH
In this picture Shobal Bashir is practicing ‘Mockingbird’ by Eminem. These are the other singers Celine, Dell and Shannon are singing Atomic Kitten, and 19 others and some of the people who are in some of the groups sometimes swap around.
This is Dione, Lewis and Nick spray painting the back drop for the Stars in your eyes performance on Friday.
In this picture Toni is getting filmed by Iain for the introduction at the begining and he will film all of the other people.
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DAY 3 (25 August 2010)
Pictures
and words
by Emily Halsey.
The girl’s have been practicing songs to sing at Fruit. The boys have also been practicing for their performances. People are in groups and some are soloists.
Everybody had fun dancing on the night. We had a dance off with French people, we had great fun!! I think we both won! The boys had a poker night with bus tokens instead of money.
Sammie Watson was practicing her dance by Shania Twain’s “Man i feel like a woman.”
Nick has been in charge of set design with pupils of drama. Spray painting was most difficult says Jordon aged 13. Its only difficult because you have to be accurate.
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Pictures
and words
by Robert Hunter
This is a picture of Iain Thompson getting ready to film Rose’s intro. Rose is singing a song called “Punk Rocker” which she has been practising for the performance which is similar to “Stars in your eyes” at the Fruit venue in Hull. This performance is on Friday 27 of August around 7.00.
This picture is Gary Pearson editing Ben Borril and Molly Browns intro. The intro is a short video clip introducing the act in an X-Factor style. The one who came up with the idea of making individual and group intros was Iain Thompson. Garry Pearson is the coolest guy ever.Editor: Jordan davidson
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Pictures
and words
by Hannah Megson.
This is a picture of the creators of freedom road creative arts display spray painting them. I’m speaking to Bobby Hunter he said “he did it with Nick and his group. He did it because he does art and he likes it. He has been doing it all week with all the spray paints.
This is the man that has taught them it and helped he is a famous graffiti artist. His name is Nick he does this because he is a bit of a rebel and graffiti is a rebels art work. He does it with a crew who live in Scotland, Newcastle and York he does this because he loves art (freestyle). He is doing it at Northern Theatre he has been doing it all week .
This is rob he is sort of a journalist, he was helping us at the beginning of the week. He said “he does it for all different people he mainly helps with freedom road website. He does it all week and he is helping out document rehearsals.
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DAY 2 (24 August 2010)
Pictures
and words
by Dione Phillips.
RAPP is helping inspire young people no matter what shape or form and shows that you can shine no matter what you look like and if you put your mind to it you can do it. Sophie has Cerebal Palsy but that doesn’t stop her having fun. This causes physical disability and reduces body movement and in Sophies case she cant move her arms and legs but that doesn’t stop her singing and dancing.
This is Ian Bolton he is the main person who runs Freedom Road and he is the best person to do the job because all of the kids adore him and he is very friendly, hard working but strict when he needs to be which is hardly ever. Over the last 10 years 300 people have been inspired and helped by Ian.
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Words by Sammie WatsonToday Ben Borrel and Molly Brown were practicing their song “Meet me half way” by Black Eye Peas and Ben had a bit of trouble with the rappin and Sammie stepped in as Jeremy Kyle and asked what the problem was and asked if we could compromise and he said NO cos he couldn’t do it, so we cheered him on and it took a bit of work then he agreed to do it, so Jeremy (Sammie Watson) ran round Northern Theatre screaming and shouting with joy. So there’s no I in TEAM, if you work together and participate we can get through it, good luck.
Sammie Christian was havin trouble with high notes, so Sammie W (Jermey Kyle) not real good at high notes still tried to help and in the end she is gradually making progress and gaining confidence, good luck.
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and words
by Hannah Megson.
This is the group performing, they are doing "Dancing in the rain". They all have a peace each to learn I heared that they are railly enjoying it and love it. They have a show on Friday they have been practising all week so far.
This is the same as well they are the over side of the room backing dances they are loving I lalalala by the look Ben is having the best time. Sophie another girl is part of it and she said “I love it".
This is a picture of the girls getting ready to go shopping for the costumes we have Toni Hunter and Lizzie Stow. Toni said “ she is going shopping" wants to do it when she's older. She has been doing it all morning .
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More photos from Day 2 by Dionne Phillips, Reece Broom, Mercedes Rout, Bobby Hunter, Hanah Megson, Jordan Davidson
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DAY 1 (23 August 2010)
and words
by Hannah Megson.
This is a picture of Jordan and Dillon doing Jedwood. Jon said “he felt excited” and he said he was working with Dillon. He is doing it for the show on Friday. He mainly likes everything and nothing’s boring compared to him. He said he was doing it with great practice. He’s been doing this dance all morning with the dance teacher. He’s been doing it in the dance room all morning. He did not do it last year so it was new to him doing it this year.”
Now we pass on to Dillon he said he felt excited and nervous. He has been doing Gedwood the dance he has being do it in Northern Theatre all this morning. He has been doing it with his partner John.” this is Ghon and Dillon.
We are now speaking to Jack Thomson he said “he has been filming and getting videos of things like the Deep when they went out. The picture is of Jack filming in the room. He is doing this picture at Northern Theatre he has done this all morning. He gets a bit nervous because it is hard especially on first time.
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More photos from Day 1 by Dionne Phillips, Reece Broom, Mercedes Rout, Bobby Hunter.
For info on how you or your group can be involved in FRCA's 2011 Summer School, please email us on: info@freedomroadcreativearts.com
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 September 2009:
FRCA Summer School a massive success
FRCA's Summer School 09 was a resounding success with a week packed full of energetic and creative workshops that had the young people discovering their inner talents. From the Dance workshops that were run by Jon Beeney to the Songwriting workshops run by Twang, the whole week proved to be a week that left the young people already planning and thinking about next year.
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From Tuesday to Thursday the young people worked hard to create and perfect songs and routines, before all getting together on the Friday at the Albermarle Music Centre, Hull to enjoy further workshops with the UK's 2008 Beat Boxing Champion MC ZANY, percussion workshops with Gary Hammond, Djing workshops with Alistair and his 10 x 10 productions and songwriting sessions with Matt Hogg and Alan Jones.
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The day finished with a 70 minute performance from the young people who took part enjoyed by watching parents, carers and friends. MC ZANY also showed off his unique talent with a jaw dropping routine. Now where does he get those sounds from ??
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Thanks must go out to the Youth Opportunies Fund who funded the Tuesday to Thursday workshops and to Music 4 U who funded what we called the FRCA Positive Connections Music Event on the Friday. I must also say thanks to the very brilliant Voltage Volunteers for being the driving force behind organising the Friday event and being instrumental in making it the success it was, Garry, Becky, Matty and Matt.
Comments from the young people attending included:
"I thought it was great and it's been funny"
It was really great. Great dancing, nice teachers and cool friends"
"I had a great time"
It was ace. I had a great time singing"
"It was pretty awesome. I didn't think we would actually make a full song"
" I can't believe that I actually got up on the stage and performed"
So on to next year and in the meantime look out for other opportunities that FRCA will be providing.
1 September 2008
The very first Freedom Road Creative Arts Summer School was a huge success with around 30 young people involved over the week. The young people from Hull and Scunthorpe enjoyed taking part in workshops in dance, drama, circus skills and songwriting at St. Mary's Academy, and put together a show of their work on the Friday evening at the Horncastle building hosted by the dashing Matty Feldt.
With trips organised to various other local attractions during the week such as The Deep, Laser Quest and Pizza Hut, the week provided the young people with a packed programme where friendships were made and new skills learnt.
Here's what some of the young people said:
"I have not done anything like this before, but i learnt to dance, do some circus skills and perform in front of an audience"
"I learnt how to write songs better and how to sing to different backing tracks"
"I've really enjoyed the week as i've met loads of people and made good friends. I really enjoyed the singing too"
"I have learnt my real potential"
"I loved it because of all the support"
"I have had a great time"
"I have learnt how to use my body rather than my mouth to express myself in drama"
"I think this week has been fantastic. I have enjoyed every single bit and there has never been a boring moment. It just goes by too quick"
"The best bits are Hannah and Sabrina"
And the future of the summer school? FRCA are already starting to plan next years summer school but in the meantime if you want to become more involved the let us know as we run weekly workshops in dance, drama and song writing.
FRCA have secured some funding through the Youth Opportunities Fund to hold their 2nd Summer School. It will run from Tuesday September 1st until Friday September 4th. More details to follow with a run down of workshops and performance times.
The 2010 Summer School is to be residential based where young people will stay overnight at the lawns in Cottingham and travel to and from Northern Drama during the day. Night activities will also be taking place. Look out for what happens after the conclusion of the Summer School in late August.
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