Story
HISTORY
Music Relief Foundation is a community charity serving the grassroots communities in Croydon for over eleven years. The charity was started by Magdalene Adenaike (Founder/CEO), inspired by her first-hand experiences of the hardships, isolation, and challenges faced by becoming a teenage parent. During this period, she discovered the transformative power of music and the importance of bringing other teenage mothers together to share their experiences. With these two revelations, the idea for Music Relief Foundation was born.
The charity has delivered various services for young people in schools and within the community through all its other services and giving ad-hoc music lessons as plans for the music school were formalised. Through these ad-hoc lessons, they have collaborated with Croydon Composers, Access Music Media, The Mixtape Project, and Playlabz.CIC. Performances at Box Park Croydon, The Front Room, Crystal Palace Fans Corner, and The Palace of Westminster coincided with our knife crime launch, More Than Able (MTA). See here - https://music-relief.org/music-school/.
MRF MUSIC SCHOOL
In November 2021 we finally launched our MRF Music School in November 2021, and this school is specifically targeted to young people and their families from the grassroots communities. Our sessions are up to an hour a day for ten weeks a term. Our age range starts from children as young as six to adulthood (whatever age). We deliver lessons in guitar, keyboard, vocal, samba drums and wind instruments.
We cater for both home-schooled children and children in school/PRU/or not in school. Whether you are a beginner or otherwise, our doors are open to you. Our prices are very reasonable, and we consider those on benefits and give affordable prices for those that are not.
Starting with only 30 students in November, the school has grown, with over a hundred students on our register as of October 2022, and the number is rapidly rising. Our lessons are delivered Monday to Saturday, during the day and evenings, to ensure that we cater for the most significant intake of students from home-schooled communities.
Our classes are filled with mixed abilities students who are neuro and non-neuro-diverse, working harmoniously together to read and play music.
Our tutors are all trained music tutors capable of working with SEND children and have combined experience of over 50 years of experience working in the industry, playing and teaching music.
LORD NAPIER
Lord Napier was the Jazz music centre to go to in south London during its heydays, with the likes of Alan Elsdon and George Melly. We want to bring about the venue's rebirth, restoring its cultural heritage and giving the community a thriving venue to play, learn and listen to music.