Burnham Performing Arts Academy

Burnham-on-Crouch could have its own performing arts academy if the Rev. Dr. Jon Morgan is successful in his plans to build an school.

Rev. Dr. Jon Morgan was a musician before he became a vicar. He was the principal of the Cambridge Academy of Music and Performing Arts for eight years, so certainly has the experience and skills to make his dream project come true.

Jon Morgan originally trained as a pianist as a boy but then bought an accoustic guitar when he was a teenager. This led to a career as a folk singer and song writer. He toured the world and even had a single reach gold in Australia. His first of five albums, Homecoming, told the story of Odysseus and was classical folk story telling.

After his success in Cambridge he decided to train as a vicar for the United Reformed Church. In 2011 he moved to Burnham-on-Crouch to take the role of the vicar of the United Reformed Church there.

Jon Morgan has now lived in Burnham for a year and almost since the beginning he has been working hard to develop interest and support for a performing arts centre.

He explained why he is doing this:

“I want to have a local hub for music performance and tuition in Burnham. Hopefully it will give people of all ages a safe and solid base to achieve what they want and dream of.”

Small towns can really benefit from community groups such as this. Not only will it provide the youth of Burnham with something to do it may attract students from all over Essex and boost Burnham’s local trade. Hopefully soon we will be able to report that a new academy of arts has opened in Burnham.

Free Computer Access

Earlier this year the Rev Dr Jon Morgan was in a news after he made some computers available at the URC. He explained that he wanted to help local unemployed people to seek opportunities online. Now his church has 6 computers connected to the Internet and staff provide lessons to local residents on how to use the Internet to find work.

The idea came about after speaking to parents at a toddlers group at the church. He soon realised that many people are seeking work but do not have a computer at home to use for job hunting. As well as providing computer access they also starting offering training to help people learn how to use the Internet to search for jobs.

 

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