Friday 29 October 2010

Deptford carnival procession Saturday 30th

This Saturday sees the MADCAP MARCH OF MAYHEM AND  MISCHIEF - described as 'an inter-cultural, end of summer extravaganza bringing together the work of local schools, artists, volunteers, dancers, makers and shakers in a frenzy of glitter, sparkles and a smidgen of approaching winter darkness....'


The march, which is organised by the Madcap Coalition, will start at the Albany at 6pm and will travel via Ferranti Park to the Laban Centre where there will be 'music, games, fire, food and much more!'

It should certainly be a colourful event - volunteers have been working on costumes for weeks and there will be musicians, banners, flags and so on.

4 comments:

Kate said...

Sad day for the high street. I cant believe there isnt a cap for gambling establishments within close proximity to each other as they are old detrimental to society. I guess the council just didnt want another vacant building and rushed this through as the offer was there. Deptford High Street is just going to end up as an even number of Butchers, Bakers, Pound Shops and Betting Shops with any other shop of interest or individuality basically pushed out.

Anonymous said...

We went last night. It was so much fun, a mix between Mexico's "Day of the Dead" and the Rio Carnival! We toured through the back streets of Deptford scaring dealers into doorways and ended up at Ferranti Park where there was a fire juggler who occasionally caught the "wrong" end of the stick and a Pinata that was hit so hard by the local kids that the whole contraption collapsed upon them. Brilliant! ;-)

Richard Katona said...

I think Anonymous hit the nail on the head when commenting upon the procession being a 'a mix between Mexico's "Day of the Dead" and the Rio Carnival'.

I must declare an interest in this as I am a MADCAP Exec member myself.

Although it was originally billed as MADCAP's Hallowe'en March of Mischief and Mayhem I believe it transmogrified into something very different.

We'd been holding arts and crafts workshops for weeks for children from local schools and two other supplementary schools for Vietnamese and Afghani kids. Also, local artists and makers had been working on structures for the march.

I missed out on the event really because, as a MADCAP Exec member, I spent all day on the rigging crew in Ferranti Park opposite Laban, then I had to work transferring the free pumpkin soup from the kitchens to Ferranti Park.

But I was in Ferranti Park when the two-hour procession finally turned into the space in the dark, with their lanterns and giant lit paper structures. I nearly burst into tears. There were hundreds on the march. It wound up as a party in the park with a live band, a DJ and two catering tents and 20 paper candle balloons sent up to the ancestors with everyone's wishes for the coming year.

Somewhere along the line this stopped being a Hallowe'en March of Mischief and Mayhem and became something inexpressibly finer. The lit procession of children and parents I saw turn into Ferranti Park seemed to me to say something of the simple, rumbustious, unselfconscious elegance of a whole human community. That's why I nearly burst into tears. From the outside, the procession looked to be one of the most moving things I have seen in a long while.

Another Exec member told me that people had been crowding out on to walkways and balconies to watch as the procession snaked its way around the housing estates of Deptford.

I am hoping this will become an annual fixture, but bigger, better and with more communities deciding to get involved.

Deptford dame said...

Great idea Richard and thanks for sharing your lovely report of the event. I was disappointed to be out of town that weekend at another annual event which is a long-standing diary item for me, but hope to make it to next year's carnival!