Preparations are underway for the first ever Dartford Festival of Light which will take place on Friday October 16 through Dartford Town Centre between 6.30pm and 7.30pm.  The parade will involve 11 schools from Dartford who will be working with renowned arts company Emergency Exit Arts in the build up to the event.  In total over 450 young pupils will benefit from arts workshops.  The children will make lanterns and torches which they will carry in the parade.

The Festival of Light has been organised by local arts organisation Cohesion Plus in partnership with North West Kent REC and the Dartford East and West Local Children’s Services Partnerships.  The parade will start just on the green outside Central Library, will turn right towards the High Street, going past the Paper Moon Public House, and will then continue along the High Street before stopping outside the Halifax Bank for live music and dance performances by the Bloco Fogo Samba Group, Four by Four Bhangra Group and Lucky Moyo African Drummers.  Then parade will then continue on back to the starting point.

The aim of the Festival of Light is to bring the communities of Dartford together through the arts, and has been inspired by the Cultural Olympiad which promotes the Olympic values of excellence, respect and friendship and the Paralympics values of empower, achieve and inspire.

According to Gurvinder Sandher the Director of Cohesion Plus who is co-ordinating the event “We have been very pleased with the positive response which we have had from local schools. I hope that the local community come and out and support the parade and that we can continue to develop it in the build up to the London 2012 games, which will be on the doorstep of Dartford.  I believe that the parade will showcase the great community relations and local young talent thatexists in the borough”

To download or view the poster for this event please click here – Festival of Light Poster