Phil Toms

Active YSTV member in 1995-6 while a music technology postgrad student at York, Phil had an amazing talent for composing clever pastiches of TV theme tunes, creating original music for the title sequences for Campus Today (a brilliant Richard-and-Judy 'This Morning' rip-off), Week by Week, SU, Lies and Videotape, Duck Nation, Oop the Garden Path and Soapwatch amongst others.

He also produced and directed several programmes including the music series YMTV featuring current videos and local student bands, Get Scoffed! a food programme, a documentary on the Beatles and Merry Christmas from YSTV using a funky version of Jingle Bells that he apparently wrote. He was remembered for performing live jingles for Open Days and for Election 95, where each election candidate ended up having their own theme music. He also played keyboard for Who's Line is It Anyway? as part of Children In Need 95 and wrote music for Graham Quince's pastiche on House of Cards.

Phil Toms is a very active musician in East Anglia, specialising in double bass, piano and keyboards. His musical interests bridge the gap between classical, jazz, music theatre and popular music. Having spent the past ten years teaching in primary and secondary schools, he is currently lecturing on Music in Education, Music Technology, Music History and Musicianship skills as the Curriculum Manager for Music (Further Education) at the Colchester Institute, where he studied before his year at York.

In 2004 Phil was awarded the Leader of the Year Award for Outstanding Service to Youth by the Jack Petchey Foundation, when he was Assistant Team Leader for Expressive Arts and Head of Music at Shenfield High School near Brentwood.

More recently, he has worked with Yes frontman Jon Anderson, violinist Stephen Bingham and has also composed the national ident for BT's text-to-speech phone service.

He can be contacted through CO1, where he is a trustee for youth charity CO1 transforming the oldest building in Colchester (Holy Trinity Church) into a vibrant youth café, music venue and heritage centre.

Check out some of his archive here: A Trip Down Memory Lane