If you are a musician living in Purley it seems likely you have had some dealing with Fiona Lipscombe.

The foreign language tutor has been a huge advocate of the arts in and around the area, converting her own front room to create a small venue to give young up and coming artists the chance to play.

While this extraordinary effort has now ended, the 51-year-old become more widely involved in the community as a whole by joining with a group of like minded individuals to launch the Purley Festival in 2011.

As director of the event, she has seen the festival go from strength to strength, attracting thousands of visitors and establishing itself as a feature of Croydon’s cultural calender, bringing musicians, artists and the business community together.

She said: “I’m incredibly proud and thrilled that thousands of people come and enjoy the music. When the Purley Music Festival was stopped due to cuts, I got together with other people to create another event to bring the community together.”

Ms Lipscombe explained that the festival, held in June this year, takes a year of planning to pull together.

After the success of the first event, more and more volunteers came on board, and this year the week-long festival involved more than 100 events.

However, on top of this she is also in the process of organising an August festival as well. Her efforts have not gone unnoticed and she has been nominated for a Croydon Champion in the Community category.