Newbury College, in collaboration with Hogan Music & Academy, is pleased to offer a series music workshops. The first, taking place at Newbury College on Saturday 10 February, features legendary drummer Steve White. Steve has played with stars such as Paul Weller, Ian Dury, and, at seventeen, was the youngest performer on stage at the Live Aid concert in 1985 when he played with The Who.
The workshop, taking place between 3-6pm, promises to be inspiring, educational and fun. Steve will talk through his lengthy career and play some of the songs he performed with Paul Weller and The Style Council. He will demonstrate tips and exercises to help drummers improve their playing and answer question from the floor. Steve is also offering a few one-to-one sessions earlier in the day, these will run from 10am to 2pm.
Matt Foster, Music Technology course leader at Newbury College said: Newbury has a thriving music community and a wealth of talent. Together with Hogan Music and Academy, we are hoping to promote more of these fantastic educational opportunities for musicians to attend. To have someone of Steve's calibre playing at Newbury College is an absolute honour; it promises to be a fantastic afternoon.
The aim of the collaboration and the workshops is to promote the joy of music to a wider audience and make it accessible to all, said Mike Barbour, General Manager at Hogan Music. As a charity, Hogan Academy offers free music lessons to young, disadvantaged people. We'd like to encourage anyone interesting in learning to play the drums to come along to the workshop. With an inspiration like Steve ' who knows where it could lead!"
Newbury College offers Music Technology courses at Level 2 and 3. Hogan Music and Academy offers one-to-one tuition at its music centre on Bartholomew Street.
Tickets can be purchased from Hogan Music at a cost of £10 per person for the workshop and £50 for the one-to-one sessions.
In a display that forms part of New Year, New You' week, students could visibly see the sugar content for a range of popular drinks. Information about the caffeine content was also included.
Commenting on the display, Sports Maker, Louise Neil, said: It's good for people to understand exactly what they are drinking. You wouldn't consciously add that much sugar to your tea or coffee, so why should a cold drink be any different? That much sugar and caffeine is not good for anyone's health, and certainly not conducive for students trying to concentrate on their studies.
Other activities this week include information and awareness sessions about sexual health, alcohol and smoking, as well as looking at the benefits of exercise.
Working with local businesses has long been upheld as a value at Newbury College. Some of the relationships it has with organisations in the Newbury area span many decades.
Once such relationship is with Hungerford-based Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS). KCS sponsors one of the College IT rooms and has worked for many years supporting students on work placements, attending careers events and offering employment to those seeking a career in IT. For example, ex-student Polly Theobald now works at KCS as a Trainee Software Engineer.
To celebrate their long-term partnership, Ian Bendelow, CEO, and other employees from KCS, including Polly, joined the College Principal and CEO, Anne Murdoch and other members of College staff for lunch last Friday in the newly-decorated room.
Talking about the importance of building links with the community, Anne said: We fully appreciate the support that local businesses give us. It helps us to offer a more engaging curriculum and aids student progression. In turn, employers gain access to a pool of talent and can work with us in other areas such as apprenticeships and management training.
Not working with Newbury College? Our business team would like to hear from you. Give us a call on 01635 845229 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to find out how we can support each other.
Staff and students have been busy constructing exhibitions for the annual Newbury College Christmas Display with "Santa got stuck up the chimney" by the Information Services Team announced as this year's winner.
"The 12 Days of Christmas Tree" by MIS came in second place followed by "Sock Snowmen" by the Foundation Learning students.
Other notible exhibitions were a snowman made of books from the LRC and a Wild-West take on the traditional nativity scene.