Update: Due to the weather conditions, the Parade has been postponed until Thursday February 10.
Day Nine
We began by assessing the job in hand – the logistics of which lanterns to cover first and where to put them. There were thirty minutes or so of calm before the activity of the day began. Soon there was no space or time to think. Year 3 lanterns on one table, a huge Year 6 lantern on another. Lanterns being fettled and covered betwixt and between. Kayleigh, Corrie, Janette, Zana et al somehow managed to work on their own lanterns whilst helping others who came to get theirs finished.
Sandra and Loretta went through the lanterns begun on Saturday that hadn’t been worked on since to see if anyone could be encouraged to come back and finish them today.
Loretta is a teaching assistant in the school and the parent of a Year 6 boy. She has been involved with lanterns since the word go, being one of those who visited the parade in Southwick to see what it was all about and who came back to Tilery saying
“We want one of those in our school”
She usually joins in after school, whether lantern- making or just helping out. We asked for extra help yesterday whilst Sandra was busy making a few hundred star-shaped biscuits for the parade and so Loretta joined us. She was with us today too, which helped us get even more done.
We are part of a very strong team here. Adults and children working together. Anni Raw was visiting again today and she told me of a conversation she had with Corrie’s son who is in Year 5. She asked him who he thought was the boss.
“Mary and Gilly are the bosses” he said and then continued “but they’re not like bosses really. They help us to get things done. We are all the bosses.”
Tomorrow, we have more lanterns to cover and then put a door in every last one of them so that access can be gained to light the candles. There will be the traditional pre-lanterns whole-school assembly in the morning. It is the biggest production meeting I have ever attended. The details of the event will be gone through in detail, with maps and singing and lanterns. The Black Eyed Peas will sing the song that I always associate with Tilery “I gotta feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good night”.
The troublesome news is that serious winds are forecast for tomorrow evening. We will have to make a decision by lunch time as to whether the parade happens or is postponed. If the latter is the case, we’ll mothball the whole parade until another Thursday in February.