Children light up Catford for crowdsourced lantern parade

Pic: Tamara Froud, Twitter

Catford’s first lantern parade on Saturday. Pic: Tamara Froud

Local school children woke up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning to show off their handmade lanterns for a community parade through the streets of Catford.

Organised by Corbett Residents’ Association and local resident Martha O’Toole, the Catford South Kids’ Lantern Parade was funded by enthusiastic local residents on crowdfunding platform Spacehive, as well as Lewisham Council and the Archibald Corbett Society.

Panoramic images and clips from the parade were tweeted by enthusiastic residents.

The parade also included a samba band.

The project received widespread support from residents. Ben Neverest, who put £50 behind the project, said on Facebook: “If the project helps innovate creative life in the next generation of kids in Catford and keeps them off the streets (or on the streets in a good way) then it’s a great idea.”

Nicola Stockton took note of the “special atmosphere” and Sylvia Synodinou praised the “amazing community spirit” present at the event.

Many present on the day posted pictures on Twitter.

Twitter user @EmilieHubbard filmed the following timelapse video of the impressively long line of lanterns snaking into the night, while Rosie Downes filmed the bobbing lanterns making their way down a street in her area.

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