5pm – 9pm

Fratton Big Local (FBL) is delighted to move its 7th annual community lantern parade from early December to be a part of We Shine Portsmouth. Everyone is invited to be part of this very special local event to help make Fratton Shine on Friday 19th November.

The parade leaves from The Royal British Legion, arrival at 6.00pm for a prompt 6.30pm start, that leads you down Fratton Road to St Mary’s Church. An enchanting evening of beautiful lanterns and inspiring drumming from Batala Samba Band all here in Fratton and run by Fratton Big Local (FBL)

A variety of fun, bright and beautiful lanterns are created by local people, families, school children and community groups in workshops run by Splodge Designs and they come together for a magical community lantern parade.

Everyone is welcome to join the fun by creating their own lanterns at one of the free ‘drop-in’ lantern-making workshops being held across Fratton in October and early November ready to collect on the night to be a part of the parade.

You are also welcome to make your own lantern at home and bring it along on the night (NO NAKED FLAMES PLEASE- BATTERY LIGHTS ONLY)

For lantern workshop dates and locations please see the ‘Get Involved’ page

Artist Bio:

Fratton Big Local (FBL) is a Big Lottery funded 10-year project which aims to make lasting improvements to Fratton. It is run by a Partnership of local residents, who make decisions about how to spend the funding. Everything FBL does is based on the priorities of the local community. Community Events have always been important to the Fratton residents and the Festival of Lights it part of a programme 5 annual events FBL runs or supports locally.

Splodge Designs is a collaborative Arts Company run by Clare Jefferson-Jones and Paul Jones. Clare is a project manager and practising artist working in textiles, puppetry, projections and sculpture. Paul Jones is a qualified sound artist/musician and a trained teacher. He has extensive experience working in recording and music production. Splodge Designs is all about community engagement and delivering successful community projects, large-scale commissions and exhibiting widely since 2001.

Photo credit: Linda Mason