Cropredy children preparing for festival performance
25/07/2025

The youngsters will open Friday at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention
Two weeks today children from Cropredy Primary School’s Folk Class will be opening Friday’s performances at the Cropredy Convention.
The children will be first on stage at midday as part of a bill that later includes headliner The Trevor Horn Band.
Festival organisers announced in December that the youngsters from the school’s years 4 and 6 would be performing at the three-day event.
In preparation the pupils have been learning about local history through subtle music connections, such as Fairport Convention’s ‘Red and Gold’. The song is about the Battle of Cropredy Bridge in 1644, during the English civil war, when Parliamentary soldiers failed in their attempt to capture King Charles I.
Its part of a plan by headteacher Will Reeves to transform lessons, making them exciting and interactive for children, using deep rooted music that runs through the local community as his starting point.
Mr Reeves said: “Our young people were missing an opportunity by not learning about folk music, which is a huge part of the Cropredy community, I was determined to change that.
“Supported by the county council’s brilliant peripatetic folk teacher and singer, Katie Harris, I shared my dream of the school’s children playing at a major event.
“We put our heads together, used our shared vision and contacts to open doors, and now things have fallen into place, some of our pupils will be performing in front of over 6,000 people at the Fairport Convention in Cropredy.”
Published: by the Banbury FM News Team