St Dunstan's Festival

Welcome to the St Dunstan’s Festival 2024, 13 exciting days of events for everyone; performances, competitions, exhibitions. talks and workshops. Once again the Festival will run across both the main College campus and our dedicated festival site at the Jubilee Grounds.

The Festival has been part of the life of the College for many years in different forms, originating as an arts festival which was reignited when our current Head joined the College.

At the heart of the Festival is a desire both to celebrate achievement, identity and our DNA, as well as to create opportunities for as many people as possible to experience something new, challenging or affirming.

This year we see the exciting launch of The Catford Weekender as the central weekend of the Festival. The Catford Weekender offers opportunities for the local community to celebrate their music, art, sport, culture, craft, drama and so much more. As the Weekender grows over the coming years it will expand beyond the festival site to events in local pubs, halls, churches, etc. Wherever people come together.

This year our outdoor stage will play host to local musicians while artisans showcase and sell their crafts in the Big Top, meanwhile workshops will offer people of all ages opportunities to try circus skills, soul singing, or hear from local authors and artists about their work.

The Catford Weekender sits perfectly as the centrepiece of a Festival that embeds the College in the local community, whilst allowing students and their families a growing range of exciting opportunities throughout the wider Festival period.

As we celebrate who we are as a College we discover the unique opportunity to grow into all we can be and truly Albam Exorna – adorn the white, transforming a blank page into a multi-faceted explosion of colour, individual yet connected to the larger canvas of our community.

We hope you will join us at one of the many events in the Festival and enjoy, discover, celebrate, perform or compete together as part of the wonderful community we are.

Richard Gregg

Festival Director and Director of Drama

Find out what's on in the Festival Brochure

Catford Weekender - See what's on over the four days

Watch last year's highlights

History

St Dunstan's Festival originated in the 1990s under the stewardship of Dr Anthony Seldon, who was Deputy Head of the College at that time. It was originally named ‘The Catford Arts Festival’ and ran over two and a half days at the very start of July.

The Festival was quickly dubbed ‘The Edinburgh Festival of South London’, and comprised over twenty main events and ‘a rich and enterprising fringe’. The 1994 College Chronicle describes the Festival as ‘catering for the souls’ and it contained an array of eclectic events including the St Dunstan’s jazz group, lectures given by writers Brian Masters and Gwendoline Butler, and a Shakespeare play with a twist, entitled ‘A Pocket of Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

Growth and Change

The Festival was short-lived, only lasting a few years. The current Head reignited the Festival on his arrival at the College, with its relaunch occurring in the summer of 2015. The now two-week event is a firmly established highlight at the end of the academic year, enabling pupils to engage with a huge variety of activities and performances, involving not only the College, but also our broader Lewisham community.

Watch the highlights from our 2022 Festival

Photos from 2022

Photos from 2021