Story by Patrick Amber, lantern making workshop leader
Photos by Frankie Currie and Nico Hall
“It’s a bit windy!”
The fourth annual Parkwood Springs Lantern Procession had to be cancelled at the last minute due to high winds.
My hopes were dashed and my heart sank. All that work with so many people, all the anticipation, the excitement and then just disappointment. Well, I think the disappointment lasted about half an hour. Before I knew it, thanks to a kind invitation from Huw Thomas of Christ Church on Pitsmoor Road, all the lanterns were being arranged in the church by the Friends of Parkwood Springs and other local folk. For about an hour that windy evening, people came from afar to see the church illuminated by the most wonderous likes of dragons, giant snakes, deer, birds and a lightbulb with moths fluttering round it!
Ever since I discovered lantern making workshops with the Sharrow Lantern Carnival, I’ve enjoyed seeing church halls and community rooms transform as they fill with abundant structures, but I would never have imagined seeing lanterns in all their glory in a church. Yet this turned out to be a fantastic way to display them. Perhaps this could happen again next year as a planned exhibition.
