The launch of Club Soda takes place on 9th July at Croydon Clock tower, and marks the tenth anniversary of a regular club night event for people with learning disabilities. The club was previously known as Beautiful Octopus Club. This will be the first time that the event has been entirely produced by people with learning disabilities .Who have made artistic as well as practical decisions about the organization and running of the event ( croydon.gov.uk)
Leisure Link interviewed Sedley Wilson about Croydon’s first ever Club Soda night held on 9 July 2009. Club Soda is the new name for Croydon’s Beautiful Octopus Club. Sedley told Leisure Link:
“Club Soda was a good night. The people with disabilities working at the club had T-shirts saying ‘Staff’ and the new name; ‘Club Soda’. In the ‘Open Mike’ slot, a girl with a great voice sang the famous Titanic song; ‘My Heart Will Go On’, and someone else played the keyboard. Another really good thing is that people have been staying later into the evening at club night recently. ”People had choices about what they wanted to do, like dropping in to the cinema or the chill out room, or doing some painting. Someone in a wheel chair was also able to join in by painting with their wheels…. Everyone feels that they can belong to a club like that. It makes a lot of difference that people feel part of it. The best thing for me was learning how to use a professional camcorder on a tripod. I helped out Sonny with filming the event and then took photos of the chill out room. The live acts were brilliant and the DJs – Julie Brickley, Hannah Marvelly, Brian Jones, Valerie Newcastle, Dennis Ellis, Anthony Yarnham—were good too. (Leisure Link News Letter Issue 47)
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