StokeFest was a great success. It brought out the best in everyone and the support that the crowds gave the children and young people was fantastic. People loved the giant puppets, the sound of the drums and of course the carnival car proved a bit of a feature.
The question is where now? We want to do it again - but bigger and even better next year. But to do that we need help and support from the community. If you have thoughts and ideas and would like to get involved then please contact me - helenhonduras@gmail.com
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Open to everyone
In the afternoon, festival goers were invited to have a go for themselves. With recycled drums and empty plastic bottles as beaters, the group of young children, mums and dads and typical Stokey types followed Rudy's lead and within half an hour were playing a simple rhythym before going off on a mini parade around the family area.
Getting the recycled message across
With traffic halted on Church Street, the procession passed people sitting patiently on buses proving a captive audience for the primary children's recycling message!
Organised madness, mayhem and excitement
10.00am, Sunday 8 June 2008 - William Patten playground and a glorious day. What a change it made to the miserable days over the half term when the TARU guys had been based in the same place building the puppets. Now, the sky was clear, clear blue, the sun was already hot and we were promised temperatures in the mid 20s. Glorious! The puppets were laid out around the playground with piles of drums, costumes and tshirts for each school group. All that was needed was the children.
And gradually they arrived and the playground filled. Willing helpers and classroom teachers helped them find carnival tshirts - different colours for different schools - painted faces, their headdresses and costumes whilst the puppet makers in wild recycled costumes made finishing touches to the puppets. The noise levels increased as the excitement built and by the time that they picked up drums to practice it was extremely loud - apologies to those local residents who had plans for a lazy Sunday morning lie in! Parents gathered and chatted over coffees - Fresh & Wild did a roaring trade that morning - and there were more than just one or two who got rather teary eyed at the site of their children in full costume joining in rehearsals with Valerio, Klaus, Manuela, Alua and Cleyton all adorned in exquisite costume.
And whilst the main playground was filled with little ones, the secondary school groups from Stoke Newington Schools, Immediate Theatre Percussion Club, Hackney Free & Parochial and the beginnings of the new East London AfroReggae bloco were in the garden playground with their big drums making big sounds and drawing large numbers of spectators!
But it wouldn't be right for it all to go too smoothly - Rudy who had set up first thing got stuck at the festival site which caused a little anxiety. Where was he? How could we run a procession without him - he, after all, was the leader! But he turned up, we survived the Health & Safety visit, had a minor moment of panic when we discovered that Alua had forgotten his whistle which is a big problem when you use it to conduct the band with! Luckily, if you forget your whistle then a school is the best place to do it in and huge thanks go to Danna's friend, for the loan of hers. It was put to good use!
And then the police arrived. And the land train to carry siblings and family members to the festival. And then we were off...
And gradually they arrived and the playground filled. Willing helpers and classroom teachers helped them find carnival tshirts - different colours for different schools - painted faces, their headdresses and costumes whilst the puppet makers in wild recycled costumes made finishing touches to the puppets. The noise levels increased as the excitement built and by the time that they picked up drums to practice it was extremely loud - apologies to those local residents who had plans for a lazy Sunday morning lie in! Parents gathered and chatted over coffees - Fresh & Wild did a roaring trade that morning - and there were more than just one or two who got rather teary eyed at the site of their children in full costume joining in rehearsals with Valerio, Klaus, Manuela, Alua and Cleyton all adorned in exquisite costume.
And whilst the main playground was filled with little ones, the secondary school groups from Stoke Newington Schools, Immediate Theatre Percussion Club, Hackney Free & Parochial and the beginnings of the new East London AfroReggae bloco were in the garden playground with their big drums making big sounds and drawing large numbers of spectators!
But it wouldn't be right for it all to go too smoothly - Rudy who had set up first thing got stuck at the festival site which caused a little anxiety. Where was he? How could we run a procession without him - he, after all, was the leader! But he turned up, we survived the Health & Safety visit, had a minor moment of panic when we discovered that Alua had forgotten his whistle which is a big problem when you use it to conduct the band with! Luckily, if you forget your whistle then a school is the best place to do it in and huge thanks go to Danna's friend, for the loan of hers. It was put to good use!
And then the police arrived. And the land train to carry siblings and family members to the festival. And then we were off...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)