TV presenter and former Croydon schoolboy Matthew Wright has lent his support to a charity music festival set to launch this week.

To promote the festival, planned for October, organisers will hold a double launch party with gigs taking place at Matthew’s Yard and The Green Dragon and the event has been given added support with the endorsement of The Wright Stuff presenter Matthew Wright.

The former John Fisher student, who grew up in the town, believes it is time Croydon rediscovered its once vibrant music scene.

He says: ""It's great to see Croydon's music scene is still buzzing", said Wright. "I had such a good time there back in the day at the Greyhound, The Cartoon and some other tremendous venues.

"Places like Scream Lounge, The Black Sheep Bar and the Green Dragon have taken up the torch from those older venues - and I think the CROxjam festival will be a fantastic showcase, not only for all these places and the others that are taking part, but also for the scores of brilliant bands who regularly play around the area."

The show at Matthew’s Yard is for ticket-holders and VIPs, but the Green Dragon event is free entry and includes bands such as Los Bastardos, Charlie Savigar, Janieigh Cohen and Dapper Dan and the Crazy Croydon Combo.

CROxjam Festival organiser, John Bownas, contacted Matthew because he knew about the presenter’s ongoing regard for his home-town of Croydon.

"I met him last year at another festival in Devon", explained John. "We got talking about nail varnish, Purley and the Fairfield Halls.

"What I really respected about Matthew’s attitude towards Croydon was that he was totally unapologetic about this being where his roots are. "He remembered the scene that used to thrive here, and he remembered what a great time he had. That’s why I dropped him a line to see what he thought about the whole CROxjam festival plan."

The festival itself will run for three days from October 18 to 20 with standalone gigs across Croydon on Thursday and Friday, with a big ten venue day costing £10 running on the Saturday.

CR0xjam launch, Thursday August 2 5pm to 8pm Matthew’s Yard and 8pm to 11pm Green Dragon, Croydon, Full festival, October 18 to 20, visit www.croxjam.com.