TiCH rocks up for gig with Telford pupils
[gallery] It's not every day that a top pop star takes a school assembly. But that's exactly what happened for students at Wrockwardine Wood Arts Academy in Telford this morning.
Singer-songwriter TiCH arrived to give them a one-off performance in the school hall.
The Northampton-born performer appeared at the school for a once-in-a-lifetime gig ahead of her performance at T-Live on August 30.
The 21-year-old star, who arrived at the school early in order to complete a soundcheck, later had her picture taken with four of the school's pupils before holding a question and answer session with pupils in the main hall and performing two of her hit records.
TiCH, real name Rachel Furner, said: "I love performing, especially for people of this age.
"Its nice to come into schools because it means the children get to do something fun – rather than English and maths.
"I haven't been into many schools recently, I do come in with my anti-bullying work and it is good to be able to speak to the children. It's different to a teacher coming in and putting on a video, its someone close to their own age who has been through it and come out the other side."
The singer performed three songs for pupils, her new single Breathe in Breathe Out, a cover of Little Mix's song Little Me and Like Stars.
TiCH even coped with an injured finger to play the piano during the performance, after cutting it on a bowl while she was moving house.
The appearance is part of a series of promotions to boost ticket sales at T-live. The second T-Live takes place across two days with an 80s party night on Friday August 29 headlined by Rick Astley, supported by ABC, Go West, Jaki Graham and ABBA tribute act Arrival UK.
Saturday August 30 is headlined by Lawson with special guests Union J, TiCH, Harvey and Only The Young.
The event, in Telford Town park, attracted around 3,000 people last year but made a £40,000 loss, which was covered by a £50,000 contingency budget.
Telford & Wrekin Council, which is organising the event, aims to increase the number of visitors this time around in order to ensure it breaks even. It says the events are not about making money but proving the borough is a destination capable of staging successful shows.
