Remembering when

FAMOUS PEOPLE OF SIDCUP: ROSE BRUFORD

AND DOREEN BIRD

Sidcup is the home of not one but two innovative providers of professional training in the performing arts. Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance nestles in the grounds of Lamorbey Park, and Bird College Conservatoire of dance and musical theatre resides in Alma Road. But who were the two women responsible for founding them, Rose Bruford and Doreen Bird?

Rose Elizabeth Bruford was born in north London in 1904. She became a teacher of speech and drama. She had little money, but she began preparing to start her own school. From 1950, she rented part of Lamorbey House from Kent Education Committee for £5 annually and this is where her College operated. Rose lived at 79 Burnt Oak Lane and later at 19 Crescent Road. She retired as Principal of the College in 1970 and left a legacy to Sidcup in the highly successful college that bears her name. She died in 1983.

Doreen Joan Bird was born in south London in 1928. She moved with her parents to 42 Braundton Avenue, Sidcup. It was in their living room aged just 17 that she first started teaching students. Her School of Dance was based at various premises including Studio House on the corner of Crescent Road/Station Road and an old school in Birkbeck Road. Doreen lived with her American husband, Frank Cook, in Chislehurst. When she retired as Principal in 1998, her college had achieved its place as a centre of excellence. She died in 2004.

These remarkable women are just two of our ‘Famous People of Sidcup’, a project by Lamorbey and Sidcup Local History Society to celebrate the national achievements and local contributions of people who have lived in our district in the past. You can see the banners on lamp posts in Sidcup High Street and Station Road. Accompanying leaflets can be seen at www.lam-sid-lhs.co.uk.