On Wednesday 16^th November, Truro will once again light up in spectacular fashion as The City of Lights Parade takes a walk on the wild side! 

“It starts with a tangle of children, add in a bundle of withy sticks, tissue, glue, wire and candles, stir in some enthusiasm, imagination and a whole lot of fun and there you have it!” This is Reg Payn, a local artist working on City of Lights describing his time working with local children from Shortlanesend School in his Wildlife themed lantern making workshops.

Thousands of hours of work go into the lantern parade. Participating schools and colleges are hosting lantern making workshops, these events that have become a highly anticipated part of the academic year. The pupils will be guided through the process of hand making their lanterns by professional artists, in sessions that provide both fun and an outlet for creative expression.

Amanda Harris from KEAP (Kernow Education Arts Partnership) says “We are delighted to be working with young people from primary school age up to under graduate and that this year’s City of Lights is even more inclusive for young people from around the County”.

Level two Contemporary Crafts students from University College Falmouth (UCF) will again be working with artist, Billy Wynter, in the production of four large illuminated lanterns. Students also assist City of Lights artists by going into local primary schools to help the pupils with their individual lanterns. 

Gayle Matthias from UCF’s School of Art and Design adds

“This event has always been an excellent team building and community engagement experience and students have reaped the benefits of parading their creations through the streets of Truro in front of thousands of people”

This year thorough RELAYS, the Cultural Olympiad programme for the south west, City of Lights have been able to offer  Zenna Tagney,  Lydia Rudge and Laura Wray, Three 2011 Contemporary Crafts graduates from UCF  bursaries to work with artists to produce two lanterns to ties in with the global wildlife theme. 

City of Lights is a true community event, firmly rooted in Truro’s festive calendar. As a free to attend event, City of Lights relies on the generosity of the public, sponsors and partners, did you know that if every person that attended could spare just £1 we could cover the cost for this wonderful event.

Another way of supporting City of Lights is through Vodafone just text giving campaign - You can make donations of up to £10 by texting COLT11 followed by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 10 to 70070 to make your donation. It doesn’t matter which network provider you are with, the text message is free and all of the donations will be passed straight to City of Lights and will help us continue to deliver this November spectacular.

For more information on City of Lights visit www.trurocityoflights.co.uk