Dartford Town Centre was spectacle of noise and colour as over 700 people took part in the Dartford Festival of Light on Friday October 24. The Festival was organised by Cohesion Plus in partnership with Kent Equality Cohesion Council with the support of Dartford Borough Council and Arts Council England.

The first part of the evening was the lantern parade which featured 10 local schools as well as a number of culturally diverse artists including Four by Four Dhol Drummers and Crocodile Style Brass which started at One Bell Corner before heading towards the Orchard Theatre where the parade was joined by Bloco Fogo Samba Group who had been entertaining commuters outside Dartford Train Station. The parade then went through the Orchard Shopping Centre and Market Street to Central Park which was specially lit up by lanterns by leading creative arts organisation Same Sky where it climaxed by the Band Stand.

Once the parade got to the Band Stand there was a programme of entertainment which included Steel Ambition and vocalist Ryan Bennett. All the schools that took part were also presented with a special award for their participation by the Deputy Mayor of Dartford Cllr Ian Armitt and the Leader of Dartford Borough Council Cllr Jeremy Kite.

According to Gurvinder Sandher the Artistic Director of Cohesion Plus “Artistically I felt this was one of our best Festivals of Light we have delivered in Dartford. The Festival underlined again how the arts can be used to bring diverse communities together as one. We invested a lot of time and resources in trying this year to ensure as many people as possible in Dartford benefited from the work of the young people and our artistic partners Same Sky and this effort appears to have paid off. We appreciate the on-going support being provided by Dartford Borough Council and look forward to working with them again next year to build upon the success of this year’s celebrations.”