Club Soda events are a vital service

Soda Beat at Matthews Yard on October 14

The next Soda Beat, hosted by irrepressible Croydon group, The Carbonators, will be held at Matthews Yard on Monday 14th October from 7-10pm. Tickets cost just £3 on the door.

Special guests include:

Fish Police
www.thefishpolice.com 

Slushy Guts
www.slushyguts.bandcamp.com 

& others

Matthews Yard is an accessible wheelchair friendly venue.

All hail Laundry Boy

LAUNDRY BOY

Directed by Annie Smol Choreography Chisato Minamiura Designer Jo Paul

Friday 25 march / 1.30pm & 8pm / £6

Face Front Inclusive Theatre presents Laundry Boy

Martin’s time has come – to move on from dependence to independence. His journey is both terrifying and exciting as he falls in love, suffers loss and gains a glimpse of who he could be.

Laundry Boy is a heart warming new play devised and performed by an outstanding team including award winning writers Julie McNamara and Ray Downing, Deaf performer David Sands, Becky Allen and popular Learning Disabled actors Peter Faventi and Ellen Goodey.

The production is in BSL, spoken English and has integrated audio description.

Touch tours for visually impaired people will start 30 minutes before the show begins

Face Front creates original, ground-breaking inclusive theatre with a company of disabled and non disabled artists. The company produces entertaining and challenging multi- layered theatre using drama, dance, music and projections transporting the viewer from one world to another.

Club Soda Jingle Bell Bonanza

Club Soda Jingle Bell Bonanza

15 December 2010 7-11pm Tickets are £6 Club Soda is a fantastic night club & performance event produced by adults with learning disabilities! Join us this Christmas for an amazing line up of events including music, theatre, film and art at the Croydon Clocktower Massive arts party with live music, DJs, film, theatre & more!

Thanks to the renowned Club Soda technicians, the lighting and sound created a truly unique and enjoyable atmosphere. In Which to celebrate Christmas and of course Club Soda. Rainbow colours, foam and giant snow flakes where the finishing touches to any party. At the Club Soda Jingle Bell Bonanza foam fell from the heavens. It might not have been as magical as real snow, but it sure was beautiful, as it gently floated on to the dancing crowds.

Writing anything using a Tag Tool touch pad is really strange. Any thing the user writes appears on to a projected wall. The only draw back is that a person can not actually see what their lettering looks like, until it projected on to the wall. Thats the challenge of it because its like writing with no ink or typing without a monitor in which to see your lettering. During the Jingle Bell Bonanza members of the public could have a go at writing with the Tag Tool touch padIt seems that red and white is very fashionable at Club Soda at the moment. With many of the guests, Club Soda's Media crew and Dy's adorning themselves in the festive colours. For How many times dose one get the amazing chance to dress like Mr and Mrs Santa Clause.

Lenya Club Soda's formost artist regularly exhibits and sells her works at Club Soda events. Along with Club Soda's more mundane merchandise our guests could also buy Lenya's hand made cards, bookmarks, mosaics and or sculptures.

Julie aka DJ Soul Sister and DJ Dennise have been a long time members and DJ's of Club Soda.Whether making important decisions on the Club Soda committee or spinning the decks at a Club Soda Party thier is always perfectly poised.

Heres a lovely photograph that captured the opening scenes to the film 'What Is Club Soda'' shown at the David Cinema during the Jingle Bell Bonanza. The film is available at www.clubsoda.org.uk and on you tube.

An appreciative audiences applauds after the second showing of Club Soda's second film 'What is Club soda, which was shown at the David Lean Cinema, during the Jingle Bell Bonanza. The film is available at www.clubsoda.org.uk and on you tube.

Sedley a member of Club Soda media crew is busily taking photographs to help record the details and events of the Club Soda Jingle Bell Bonanza. Sedley is one of a team of photographers helping to chronicle this amazing event. On the whole the Club Soda Media Crew and are interviewing. So that he can be interviewed about how they feel about the possibility of Club Soda disappearing, due to potential council cuts to locally funded organisations.

Whether shaken stirred a legless reindeer cocktail is one of the of the fantastic cocktails offered at the bar.

What a singer Catherine amazing performance further illustrates why she is one Club Soda's favourite performers.Catherine is an enormous talent who dedication can clearly be heard through every beautiful note. (Caroline Dodd).

Community Voices Screening at Channel 4

Community Voices Screening at Channel 4

On the 3rd of March with in a small and hidden cinema within the bowels of channel 4 lay a glimmer of hope for the lucky and deserving charities that had managed to secure Community Voices funding by the social media charity Media Trust. Club Soda was among the many groups offered the chance to watch the Community Voices film live on the silver screen. Although the seven groups featured differ greatly in terms of the communities they serve, it was obvious they all had shared feeling of isolation, from their own communities whether intentional or not. Which has been channeled creatively by Media Trust funding into various media projects.

At the beginning of the film screening the groups had mainly known their own interpretation of community inclusion whether it was disability, religious, gender and age related or so forth. Yet by the end the film screening all the groups shared a collective glimmer of hope. . Now that the funding from the community voices program is coming to an end its now up to the individual charities and organizations to turn their glimmer of hope into a sustainable path towards a brighter future. (Caroline Dodd)

Under the Community Voices project, communities around England have been making a positive difference to their lives by using creative digital media. The project was launched by Media Trust, which supported them with start up funding, volunteer mentors and training.

The stories of how digital media changed seven of these communities are told in a 50-minute documentary, Community Voices, which you can watch online on Community Channel.

These seven communities include an internet radio station for the over 50s in Merseyside, a group of homeless people in Bradford, an Interfaith community in East London, people with learning difficulties in Croydon, careers in the New Forest, a self-help group of refugees in Oxford, and a group of teenagers trying to improve their rundown estate in Ipswich

(www.mediatrust.org/community-voices/).

Club Soda interviews Jhon Bercow

Club Soda interviews Jhon Bercow

Communities from Media Trust's Community Voices scheme visited Westminster on Thursday 20th January to meet the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, to discuss how community groups can engage with Parliament.

 John Bercow spoke to the communities about his role in Parliament and advised them on how best to engage with politicians and local councils and to get their voice heard.

 The audience then addressed questions to a panel made up of the Speaker and representatives from other government departments including ‘Communities and Local Government’ and ‘Business, Innovation and Skills’.

 The Speaker John Bercow said: “I am keen to encourage people from all backgrounds, and all parts of the UK, to engage with the work of Parliament. People often feel that Parliament is remote from their lives, so it was a fantastic experience to meet and talk to a selection of people from the many communities who work with the Media Trust.” 

The meeting was chaired by Gavin Sheppard of Media Trust, and arranged in partnership with the Parliamentary Outreach Service. Media Trust’s Community Voices scheme aims to inspire, engage and support disadvantaged and isolated communities to get their voices heard through digital media.

The team from Club Soda interview ed Mr. Speaker Members of the Club Soda project from Croydon work with adults with learning disabilities. The group have undertaken media training so that they can promote social events through film and online. An interview with Mr. Speaker is filmed by the Club Soda project A pocket video camera is used by the Club Soda team to capture their interview with Mr. Speaker. The Kodak pocket camera which was donated to Club Soda via the Community Voices Funding.

(www.mediatrust.org/community-newswire)

What Is Club Soda, What is the Pop Tent and What is Club Soda the Movie

What Is Club Soda, What is the Pop Tent and What is Club Soda the Movie

What is Club Soda ?

It is a question that has been rattling around the halls of Club Soda's for weeks, since it is the title of one our upcoming films. It seems to be on the tip of every ones lips (at Club Soda) but to date seems notoriously difficult to articulate. Perhaps the simple answer is that Club Soda is simply a state of mind or philosophy, and thus can mean different things to different people.

Club Soda according to it web site can be described as the following '' Club Soda events are produced and run by people with learning disabilities. Our aim is to create exciting arts events that appeal to a wide and diverse audience. We are especially proud to give opportunities for emerging artists with learning disabilities to present and develop their work''

As a volunteer at Club Soda perhaps a more demanding question could be what dose Club Soda mean to me ?Club Soda is a beacon of inclusiveness for the disabled within the Croydon community. It generates the expectation for education, entertainment, and creative opportunities in partnership with the rest of the community. In short Club Soda mean the disabled are no longer alone. By Caroline at Club Soda

What is the Club Soda Pop Tent

Croydon Summer Festival 2010 Last weekend Lloyd Park hosted a vibrant celebration of Croydon as thousands came in the warmth for the 10th Croydon Summer Festival, around 32,000 attending Saturday’s World P A brand new tent, The Club Soda Pop Tent was hosted and run by adults with learning difficulties and was packed during the Pop Choir and an emotional set by Michael Jackson impersonator Glen. Pauline Scott-Garrett, Director Culture and Sport said “Croydon Council is delighted with the success of the 10th Croydon Summer Festival. Seeing 50,000 local people coming together to enjoy a great event in one of the Borough’s favorite parks was a wonderful experience, particularly with the wealth of local creative talent on display. We would like to thank our many partners who helped make the event happen.”

(http:// www.croydon.gov.uk)

What Is Club Soda…The Film ?

On Saturday, 27^th November 2010 I was invited by Media Trust to attend the launch of a short documentary film produced by Club Soda, a group of people with learning disabilities in Croydon who organize events for others in their community, recounting their preparations in the run-up to hosting the Pop Tent at this year's Croydon Summer Festival. The launch took place at the Croydon Clocktower and was presided over by the London Borough of Croydon's Lady Mayor, Councillor Avril Slipper. As well as the first showing of the film, which has been funded through Media Trust's Community Voices program, there was also a fascinating Q&A with members of the group which indicated how much effort and skill had gone into the making of it - cutting hours and hours of video footage down into a coherent short film is not a task for the faint-hearted! Without further ado then, I give you 'What Is Club Soda? (www.londoneer.org).