As I write this, the clocks have just gone back; which means darker evenings for us all. Just as we enter Tier Three of Covid restrictions it feels even more challenging.

When we thought of what could replace our usual Winter Fair, we thought a Lantern Festival was a solution to the challenge of doing something that would be socially distanced. Now it feels even more important as it presents an opportunity to bring light where there is dark, hope where it may feel there is none and a connectivity when it may feel we’ll never be able to be connected physically again.

We’re excited to be working with the wonderful Caroline Daly and Venessa Scott again; as well as Gorse Hill Studios. And wow what a project we’ve got.

How to Get Involved

We’re asking residents of Gorse Hill to get involved, to tell their neighbours, to sign up their streets and on Saturday 21 November from 4.30pm to fill our streets with lanterns. During the week of 9^th November, a leaflet will be dropping through letterboxes with two simple designs for lanterns so you can start making them at home. They’re really simple and you can start getting ready for then by saving glass jars, paper bags, tissue paper, making sure you have some sharp scissors and glue in. We recommend using battery-powered tealights which can be used again. As well as the leaflets Venessa has also made two great how-to videos.

You can watch them here, the first one is how to make paper-bag lanterns:

And the other video shows you how to make jam jar lanterns:

We’ll be posting regular updates and reminders on our Facebook page so do join to keep updated.

Help to Join In

We appreciate in these challenging times not everyone will be able to afford craft stuff to make lanterns, if you can’t don’t worry, we’ve got you. Get in touch and we’ll arrange for you to have access to the right supplies so you can still make lanterns.

A Parade

As well as residents filling the streets, we’re also working on something a bit special too. Caroline, Venessa and the talented staff at Gorse Hill Studios are making some large willow lanterns that will be paraded through the streets of Gorse Hill on the 21^st November at 5pm. Now there are a lot of streets in Gorse Hill and we won’t be able to do all of them, so we’ll be prioritising streets that sign up to the Festival. Just drop us a message on Facebook or an email to: gorgeousgorsehill@gmail.com to let us know your street is signing up and you’ll get added to the parade route.

Donations

As if all this wonderfulness wasn’t enough during the parade, we’ll also be collecting items for Stretford Food Bank. We’ll be sharing what items are best on our Facebook page nearer the time.

So, what are you waiting for Gorse Hill. Let there be light!