The kids wrote Everybody Dreams for Tottenham

Tottenham pupils bid for the charts

by Flora Drury Thursday, June 21, 2012
7:00 AM

This is a call to residents to get behind a school’s bid for the charts with a song children hope will change the world’s image of Tottenham.

An extract of Everybody Dreams

Forget about what you’ve heard

forget about what you’ve seen

we found a place to be

where everybody dreams

seen my friends go in different ways

educated in getting paid

but I’m living in brighter days

When it all falls down

We make a sound

We’ll be standing proud

Are you listening now

Fed up with hearing negative things about their hometown in the wake of last summer’s riots, pupils of Gladesmore Community School have taken it upon themselves to write a song for Tottenham, telling everyone about why they are proud to live there.

They may have only just finished filming the music video, but they have already had the backing of dozens of celebrities.

They include well-known names, from comic Ricky Gervais to Michael Gove, the Education Minister – who they have pictured holding a sign advertising the song, Everybody Dreams.

But this is not just an excuse to meet celebrities, explained Year 7’s Lethanuel Stewart. The 11-year-old said: “We are not doing this for our benefit – we are doing it for Tottenham.”

Ricky Gervais supports Everybody Dreams

Deputy head Juliet Coley said: “The kids said they wanted to do something about negative publicity – this is our area.”

Everybody Dreams – which will be released on August 19, a year on from the riots – has been a real joint effort by every student at the Crowland Road school, with more than 700 names taking credit for the words alone.

Fifteen-year-old Kimarné Henry, a Year 10 pupil, said: “It is a song for Tottenham, but the foundations come from Gladesmore Community School.

‘‘We got everyone to put suggestions in a box, then went and wrote the song.”

But it is not just the words the pupils are behind.

The viral marketing campaign, using tools like Twitter, Facebook and BBM which were used to spread the word of the riots, were chosen as a way to reclaim the social networks for a positive reason.

Yet all of this will be for nothing if everyone does not get behind it – and that means everybody in Tottenham and Haringey.

Year 10 pupil Vivian Rein, 15, said: “If they want things to get better, if they want the community to improve, they have to support the song.”

n Find out more about the project by “liking” its Facebook page – just search “Everybody Dreams” – following @tottenhamsong on Twitter, watching the YouTube channel at everybodydreamsgcs or visiting www.gladesmore.com.