COUNTY NEWS: Popular lantern parade set to light up the streets

It's an annual tradition marking the winter solstice, which sees thousands parade through the streets with handmade lanterns.
Burning the Clocks Brighton (Photograph: Ray Gibson)Burning the Clocks Brighton (Photograph: Ray Gibson)
Burning the Clocks Brighton (Photograph: Ray Gibson)

Burning the Clocks returns on the longest night of the year (Thursday, December 21), lighting up the streets of Brighton with a lantern parade, before a bonfire on the beach.

Around 2,000 people are set to take part in the parade, with thousands more lining the streets to watch the spectacle.

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Participants meet at New Road, Brighton, and need to have purchased a lantern kit and wristband in order to be part of the parade.

The Burning the Clocks lantern parade (Photograph: Ray Gibson)The Burning the Clocks lantern parade (Photograph: Ray Gibson)
The Burning the Clocks lantern parade (Photograph: Ray Gibson)

The parade leaves New Road at 6.30pm, making its way through North Street, Ship Street, East Street, and arriving at Madeira Drive at around 7.15pm, when lanterns are passed onto the bonfire and the fireshow begins. The event finishes at around 8pm.

The fireshow will take place on the beach with spectators lining Madeira Drive and the Upper Terrace on Marine Parade.

Organisers ask that people do not bring homemade lanterns, Chinese sky lanterns or fireworks to the event as they compromise safety.

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Charity Same Sky, which organises the event, launched a crowdfunding campaign to help cover the costs, and on December 13, successfully raised £5,698 of £5,000 target with 115 supporters in 42 days.

John Varah, Same Sky artistic director, said: “Burning the Clocks is an iconic Brighton event, and we couldn’t keep it going without the generosity of our sponsors and the city’s residents.”

The event has been going for more than 20 years, and lights up the longest and darkest of winter nights, Same Sky said.

For more information about Burning the Clocks, visit: www.samesky.co.uk/events/burning-the-clocks