London to play at centennial

Veteran singer-songwriter Andrew London is the headline entertainer alongside his band The London Derrieres at the Solway College Centennial Dinner and Dance early next year.

The Kapiti-based musician, who has been performing in New Zealand for about four decades, sings and plays banjo and guitar in his band with Nils Olsen on clarinet and saxophone, George Packard on bass, Nick van Dijk on trombone and Lance Philip on drums.

London also founded and fronts a slew of musical groups including jazz trio Hot Club Sandwich, country rock five-piece The Cattlestops, and the classic hits covers band The London Derrieres, says Solway College Centennial organiser Judy Siers.

"He has performed at music festivals all over Australasia, released over a dozen CDs and recently travelled to Saudi Arabia to present a slice of Kiwiana to an international audience," Mrs Siers said.

London also penned and performed a song alongside The Cattlestops for the award-winning Kiwi feature movie Second Hand Wedding, she said, and with the band was nominated for Best Country Album at the Tui New Zealand Music Awards, was included in a Year 13 Correspondence School English syllabus, and featured on National Radio's Greatest Song Ever Written programme.

He has recorded and released 10 albums with Hot Club Sandwich, two albums with The Cattlestops and last year released a solo album, Hard Light.

"The Dinner and Dance promises to be an excellent evening of entertainment and dancing, and a fun way to celebrate our centennial," Mrs Siers said.

The centennial will be held over Waitangi weekend from Friday, February 5 to Monday, February 8, Mrs Siers said.

Other centenary events will include a contemporary re-enactment, based on a surviving photograph of the opening ceremony of Solway College, which was held on February 8 in 1916.

Mrs Siers earlier said the school would also host an "old-fashioned bazaar" at the centennial - "but this will be with a twist and a touch of the contemporary market style".

The school community welcomes the public and stall-holders to the event on February 6, she said.

-For more information email 100years@solwaycollege.school.nz, call Judy Siersat 04 934 6334 or email judy.siers@millwood-heritage.com