Carnival Of Lights will offer Chichester a spectacular big-scale procession - all you need to know

Running late afternoon/early evening on Friday, June 10 through Chichester city centre to the canal basin, it comes from the Culture Spark initiative.

Carnival Of Lights takes place on the eve of this year’s Festival of Chichester, four weeks of arts, music, theatre, talks and community events beginning on Saturday, June 11.

The Festival of Chichester will launch with music and fun on the Cathedral green from 2pm on Saturday.

By then, Carnival Of Lights will have helped get everyone in festival mood.

Elspeth Barron, project coordinator at Chichester Festival Theatre, is delighted with the way it has all come together.

“It is something that has built and built as time has gone on and we've got some fantastic lanterns representing literally everything from land to sea to sky. The theme is around all those different elements which are obviously all very important to the Chichester district. We've got some lanterns that represent the oysters of Emsworth which are being reintroduced into Emsworth harbour after years and we've got stag-themed lanterns around the stags at Petworth and we've got a lot of lanterns around the theme of the sea and the idea that the sea needs to be cleaner. There are lots of fish themes and we've got some beach huts all reflecting our environment around here. We've even got stuff in the sky. We've got some geese that the CFT staff made. They are all lanterns, all of varying types.”

The lanterns have been made by schools across the district and also a number of groups and charities, including Sanctuary which works with refugees: “We even had some Ukrainian guys that have just come over and made some beautiful lanterns showing the Ukrainian flag.”

Other lanterns reflect the festival theatre’s 60th birthday celebrations this year.

“We will gather at Priory Park at 5pm and get warmed up and we will start everyone on the parade from 6pm. We will walk down North Street and South Street and then turn left into Old Market Avenue and then down Basin Road crossing the railway line to reach the canal basin by 6.45ish. When we’ve arrived, we've got performances from the university and also from a local choir and performances from a local dance group. We will have lots of things happening and it will close at about 8.30pm. There will also be food and refreshments. And we've got a samba band that will be walking the parade with us!”

Culture Spark celebrates multiple milestones for a range of the district’s cultural organisations.

2022 will mark 60 years of Chichester Festival Theatre; ten years of the Festival of Chichester; 40 years of Chichester’s Pallant House Gallery; 30 years of Chichester Cinema at New Park’s international film festival; ten years of The Novium Museum; and 200 years of the Canal Trust.