4th Sharrow Lantern Carnival - April 1st 2007

Above: Preparing for the carnival to explode into life. The lady in white awaits her audience...

I've just realised that being a writer is crap*, ie a 7 day working week, spending most of my time alone, and a salary of £00,000,000 per annum. (The number of noughts isn't random. I intend to fill them in with numbers at some point. )

*N.B For anyone in the publishing industry who's been burdened with the godawful job of researching me, to double check that I'm not just pretending I want to be a writer, I'm joking, OK.

So I thought it was time I had a night off. Last Sunday was the 4th annual Sharrow Lantern Carnival, and what a night it was! (Oooooh, I can feel myself coming over all proper journalist, like!)

No seriously, it was a really lovely evening. This carnival is in its very early days; I can feel it becoming massive in the future. I used to go to the Notting Hill Carnival in the early 80s, less than 20 years after its inception in 1964, and I can see the Lantern Carnival reaching those heights. Even though it has pagan roots, it's still coming from a similar place; a rootsy folky carnival-for-the-people place.

The carnival begins with a street procession at dusk, where children and adults wind their way through Sharrow and London Road, up past the Vine Inn (for a long time one of the best pubs in Sheffield) and into the General Cemetery to witness a Vernal Equinox Drum Circle. In the West, drum circles have developed into three main types: "culturally specific", such as Samba bands or West African groups, "facilitated circles" with drums from any culture, and "anarchic" circles - improvised communal drumming with no designated musical leader. There's more about drum circles here at Wiki if you're interested.

Above: An illuminated mushroom and a dead end road sign outside The Vine Inn.

The theme of this year's carnival was "The Enchanted Garden", hence lots of mushrooms. So, we need a full on Autumn version as well, really :) Maybe the Lantern Carnival could become bi-annual for the Autumnal Equinox as well as the Spring one, so we could have a Sheffield Mushroom Carnival in October. I think the council would welcome that idea, don't you? Mushrooms are one of nature's greatest inventions. Look at all these beauties. Awesome.

Anyway, back to the Lantern Carnival. Here we are just before dusk...

Above: a paper lantern tree frog dangling from a branch.

Above: A local bird hanging round in the cemetery in all her finery, waiting for someone to light her up from the inside.

Above: L to R Giles behind the drum kit, Chiv, Tim and Mimi in the fab coat.

Sheffield's "nine- or ten-piece, horns-front, hoof-stomping party beast " Bison, who are very quickly making a name for themselves across the north of England, setting up for a gig later on during the carnival. Sadly, I couldn't stay for this, as we'd already been invited elsewhere for later. Ya boo sucks. I will catch them live when I can.

Above: Trumpet player Tim in mid-flight. What a star :)

Then dusk fell, and the carnival began...

Above, L to R Mel and Laura, stiltwalkers.

Above: Giles from Bison. I didn't know who he was when I took this, I just thought "Hmm, interesting looking bloke having a look at some pictures he's just taken."

Above, the drummers in the Vernal (Spring) Equinox Drum Circle.

Above, one of the drummers in the circle. If this is who I think it is, will someone ask her to get in touch please!

Following are some pictures of the stiltwalkers Laura (with the illuminated wings) and Mel (with the illuminated horns.)

It was at this point, with the sound of the rhythmic drumming, that I really got into taking photos and forgot about what I was doing or where I was, so in keeping with the spirit of the moment, I won't interrupt these with words...

....And breathe....

After all that focus and energy, a tumultuous round of applause for the lady in white, finally lit up in all her glory...

And to finish up with, that carnival and festival stalwart, my ex-brother in law Mal with one of the recumbent bikes he designs and builds.

Above: Here he is when we bumped into one another at Glasto in 2004 :)

A little bit more about the General Cemetery:

The General Cemetery is currently undergoing much needed restoration. A map of some of the graves, and the stories behind them, can be found here. The one about the baby found in the drain has just made me cry. Brilliant. What a great way to start the afternoon.

The saddest grave stone for me, which is not included on the map, is the one for a woman who lost about ten of her children in fairly rapid succession to various illnesses and then died herself. You can find it under your feet as you walk round the bend above...

The General Cemetary has long been one of my favourite places in Sheffield. I used to walk my dogs there twice a day, and the disused Anglican chapel was the setting for some shots I took of the legendary climber Johnny Dawes conducting a one day workshop, instructing his pupils in climbing technique by illustrating various moves on the chapel wall. The article and pics are here. ("A Dictator in his Underpants." Issue 112 On The Edge mag.)

The cemetery is a beautiful place and only 20 minutes walk from the town centre, so if you're ever in Sheffield it is well worth a visit.

Above: My beautiful girls Jodie and Hollie in the General Cemetery, 1996

Thank you to everyone involved in the Lantern Carnival, it was truly a memorable evening, in so many ways.

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© Jude Calvert-Toulmin.