The rural village of Wrotham in Tonbridge and Malling was transformed with a series of light installations as the community came together for the annual Wrotham Festival of Light. The festival which has been running for nearly 10 years also featured a lantern parade, musical performances, street entertainment and a spectacular fireworks finale.

The hugely popular festival saw hundreds of attendees come together to outside Saint George’s Church to enjoy performances by culturally diverse artists Bloco Fogo Samba who brought the sounds of Brazilian carnival to the village as well as the Kings of Dhol, who performed North Indian Percussion on the dhol drums. There was also street entertainment provided by Alan Swann which featured fire eating and magic tricks.

The lantern parade was led by Civic guests Deputy Lord Lieutenant Nadrah Ahmed OBE, Mayor of Tonbridge and Malling, Cllr Sue Bell and Kent County Council Chair, Cllr Lesley Game. They were followed by hundreds of children parents and guardians as the parade made its way up from the Saint George’s Church to the cricket ground. Once at the cricket ground there was spectacular fireworks display which drew loud applause from those in attendance.

The festival was organised in partnership by Cohesion Plus, Kent Equality Cohesion Council, Saint Georges Primary School and Same Sky Arts.

Gurvinder Sandher MBE the Artistic Director of Cohesion Plus commented “I’m really proud of what we are able to achieve in the village of Wrotham. The whole ethos of our organisation is about using the arts to connect communities together and this is a great example of that in action. The feedback has been fantastic and it was amazing to see the smiles of those taking part both young and old as the parade went round the village, creating shared memories that we hope will live for years to come.