Moving on Parade in Lewes goes virtual

The project usually culminates in a huge children’s carnival through the town called the Moving On Parade. It has taken place every year since 2002, and has become a much loved rite of passage.

But this year, instead, a virtual Moving on Parade was organised – and children were encouraged to create puppet avatars at home.

Caroline Croft, director of the arts charity, Petina, said: “So many local people told us they felt particularly sad that the children would not be able to have their parade due to the pandemic.

“Our wonderful team and community really pulled together to put in place alternative plans.

“As a community charity we wanted to offer a positive and uplifting project for the children to focus on through all those hard times, give them some creative opportunities and ensure they felt as celebrated as all the years before them.

“We can’t thank everyone involved enough for being so brilliant, including Lewes based education platform Tapestry Online Learning, Lewes Town Council, Emma Carlow, the Argus Fund, individual donors, our artists, schools and volunteers for supporting the project. Without such a strong community, none of this would have been possible.”

The theme for this year’s project was ‘We’re Making History’ – a catwalk through time looking at the costumes and fashions through the ages.

A presentation of the theme was filmed to introduce the theme to the children.

Each school then picked one of the historic eras out of a virtual hat, and dedicated Patina artists filmed videos to show the children how to make their avatar using materials readily available at home, to make sure the project was inclusive and accessible to everyone.

Caroline said she was overwhelmed by the positive and creative response from the children. Although isolated at home, hundreds of youngsters responded and sent videos and photos of the avatars they made which have been made into a film.

She said: “An important part of Moving On is the sense of belonging the children get from participating and seeing the support they have from their community.

“All the 15 schools involved were encouraged to have mini parades and parties on the day that would have been their Moving On Parade, which they did across the region, and we arranged for the town crier to visit them as part of the celebrations.”

The charity also provided postcards for the children to decorate and write to themselves which will be posted back to them in five years’ time, as a way of recording their own history in these extraordinary times.

Zoe Whiteman, a year 6 parent, commented: “What a fantastic video of the avatars and messages from the community. I was very proud of how amazing all these year 6 children are. Thank you so much for all your hard work and dedication.

“As a community we are so very lucky to have such a wonderful group of people committed to our children. 

“You should be so proud of what you have achieved under these difficult and uncertain times.”

The local headmistress added: “Quite how you managed to create such a lovely feeling in the face of all the difficulties I don’t know but the children were so excited, and our parents loved the videos you created.”

“We are so proud to be a part of Patina, you have created an amazing sense of community in an almost impossible situation. Thank you!”

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