The second Gravesham Festival of Light will take place on Friday October 23 through Gravesend Town Centre between 6.30pm and 7pm.  The parade will involve 13 schools from Gravesham who will be working with renowned arts company Samesky 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 Cohesion Plus in partnership with North West Kent REC with the support of Gravesham Borough Council and Kent County Council.

There will be 2 parades starting simultaneously at 6.30pm.  Procession 1 will forms up outside the Saint George’s Centre entrance opposite the Tesco store in New Road, while Procession 2 will forms up at the St George’s Day Centre entrance next to the Towncentric offices, heading westwards along Jury Street then right (southbound) into High Street.  Both parades will then meet up at the cross junction outside the old Woolworth’s store before processing up Windmill Street to the Woodville Halls where the event will climax.  The children will be joined in the parade by Bloco Fogo Samba Group, Blazing Brass, Four by Four Bhangra Group and Lucky Moyo African Drummers.

Once the parade finishes there will be a special event for participants and parents only in the Woodville Halls which will involve live music and dance performances as well as a wide range of activities for young people to take part in.

The aim of the Festival of Light is to bring the communities of Gravesham 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 “The vision of all the partners involved in this event is to make the Festival of Light an established date in the Gravesham calendar.  It is an opportunity for young people to come together through the arts and learn, respect and inspire one another.  My inspiration for this was the London 2012 Games and I hope that the Festival can get bigger and better each year as we close in on 2012.  I would also like to say a special thanks to my colleagues at North West Kent REC, Gravesham Borough Council, Kent County Council and Kent Police for their help in the build up to the event”