[W]ith less than a month to go until this year’s Carlisle Pageant, organisers are providing the opportunity to help out with the preparations.
Volunteers are needed to help create puppets for the event which this year celebrates Carlisle and Cumbrian women. The March for the Unsung Woman will be the theme of this year’s Puppet Parade. Produced by Prism Arts, with the support of Carlisle City Council, it will be held on Saturday 1 September. The Pageant Parade will start from the Civic Centre, Rickergate at 2pm.
This year’s theme coincides with the 100-year anniversary of The People’s Act. The Puppet Pageant will feature life-size puppets of ten Unsung Women of Cumbria who will be accompanied by an array of puppets inspired by their lives. All of the puppets will be created with communities in Carlisle.
Puppet making workshops have been held with local schools and groups on the build-up the event and the organisers are asking volunteers to come forward and lend a hand.
Ali McCaw, Prism Arts, said: “Come along and learn first-hand some of the skills behind creating puppets ranging from; wig making, to pattern cutting, to block printing and tea drinking. We will be creating puppets of a Unnamed Roman Woman, Lady Anne Clifford, Eliza Linton, Susanna Blamire, Sara Losh, Sara Coleridge, Catherine Marshall, Kathleen Raven, Sheila Fell and Mable Farrar.”
The community Puppet Making workshops will be held between Monday 13 August and Friday 17 August, 10am-3pm each day at the Carlisle Business Interaction Centre, 4-5 Paternoster Row, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA3 8TT. Volunteers can come for just one or all of the days, or even just part of the day. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Please make sure you book. Please book by email: [email protected] or phone: 01228 587691.
If you know anyone who may wish to attend these workshops with a learning disability or autism please get in touch too. More information about Prism Arts is available at www.prismarts.org.uk
The Puppet Parade forms part of the ten-day Carlisle Fringe programme. Starting on Monday 20 August it includes more than 100 events over eleven venues including Carlisle city centre and the Old Fire Station. More information and tickets can now be found at www.carlislefringe.co.uk
