Starshine Writers and Arrangers
Veronica Clark is an experienced teacher and Headteacher of children aged 5 to 13. Well known for her highly acclaimed music book 'High Low Dolly Pepper', Veronica has also produced many musicals and written a great deal of music for her own schools. Veronica has also advised QCA on the revised National Music Curriculum for the UK.
Jan Dobbins is a former Music Adviser and Head of an LEA Instrumental Music Service. Now she divides her time between delivering professional development courses, teaching string players, exploring music with children aged 3 – 11, composing instrumental music and writing songs.
John Gleadall , Director of Music at Park Community School, has been writing for children for the past 25 years - he says that the reward is when a 40 year old rushes up to him in Tescos and starts singing a song 'he wrote for them when they were 12'. His ambition is to shop in Waitrose.
Ruth Kenward is an experienced teacher of children from 5 to 13. Ruth directed dozens of musical plays and produced many concerts in a variety of schools before concentrating on writing her own material.
Robert Legg works as an Advanced Skills Teacher for a partnership of fourteen schools in Oxfordshire. He writes on aspects of music education for several publications and is active as a composer.
Judy Lown is an experienced infant teacher who has worked in several schools and has produced many traditional and contemporary Christmas musicals and various musical productions.
Roger Parsley is a former teacher and Drama Adviser. Now a full-time writer, he has had several adaptations and musical plays published. He has written for, and directed, Youth Theatre companies, and directs with his own professional company.
Nick Perrin is an experienced primary school teacher. Nick has directed many musical plays including several of his own works. Nick originally wrote Robin Hood for his youngest daughter Ruth, who became a keen Robin Hood fan after visiting the Robin Hood festival in Sherwood Forest.
Jo Sands is an experienced director of children's musicals and renowned performer in local theatre. Jo specialised in language support work in a primary school which has given her great insights in how children perceive and use language
Stella Vassiliou read English at Oxford and now teaches at a large girls' comprehensive in Oxfordshire. She is also a keen singer who writes and performs her own songs in her spare time.
Peter Fardell is an experienced primary teacher working in Hull. For a short while each winter he is also musical director for a village panto and, by summer, an occasional Morris Dancers' concertina player. He has had various children's musicals and songs for the primary age range published . His ambition is to see one of his creations performed in a West End theatre (or Broadway would be okay too!).
Carol Wallman – Choreographer Carol has taught and lectured in a range of schools and colleges in the U K .She has produced and directed many works for children, youth groups and in the community. She was founder and Director of the Bedfordshire Youth Dance Group, Senior Lecturer in Dance at Bedford College of Higher Education and head of Dance Education at the London College of Dance and Drama. She currently examines performance arts for Trinity/Guildhall in the U K and overseas.
Maria Pattinson - Theatre Director and Producer Maria specialises in the development and production of new writing for theatre and is the founding Artistic Director of Theatre and Beyond, winner of the prestigious Peggy Ramsay Award in 2005. Maria has commissioned and produced the work of emerging playwrights, supporting them in the early stages of their careers and also created production opportunities for more experienced writers who generally write for film and television. Maria trained as a Director with the RSC and has a degree in Intellectual History from the University of Sussex.
Simon Walters - Arranger Simon now resides in Reading having toured the country for many years with Masters of the Musicals, Kings of Swing, and numerous Barrie Stacey productions. Simon is the principal audition pianist for Spirit Productions. When not performing, Simon arranges and transcribes many new projects and is always busy doing piano/vocal scores for something or other.