Wow, we can’t quite believe it’s already December!
Ragtag Parade, our new project funded by Arts Council England and National Lottery Awards for All, has only been running a few months, but it’s already bursting with energy and creative momentum. So we thought you’d tell you all about it, in the first of a series of blog posts sharing our journey over the next 12 months.
The project launched back in August with four fast-paced weeks of activity: a brilliant week of puppetry and costume-making with young people (funded by Children in Need), the launch of our new Youth Arts Club and Adult Carnival Clubs, plus the first of five Carnival Family Fundays and extra costume sessions at Kids Art Club. It was a big, colourful start, and hopefully it’s set the tone for what’s to follow.
Starting with splashing and laughing
We kicked things off with a bold creative challenge: building a brand new giant puppet – “The Winter Goddess” – for Kendal Torchlight, the night-time carnival procession that has lit up the town for more than 50 years. In true Ragtag style, we slightly underestimated the scale of the task. A giant puppet plus 30 costumes is a lot of constructing, cutting, sticking and head-scratching, even for us. There were late nights, emergency volunteer call-outs, and more than one “Is this actually going to work?” moment. But by parade day, we were ready… well, almost. The one thing missing? Cable ties! Essential for attaching the arms. Cue a very fast dash to the shop minutes before set-off time and an even faster, slightly frantic assembly.
And then the rain came!
Not a drizzle. Not a shower. A full, unstoppable Kendal downpour.
Face paint ran, flags drooped, and costumes slowly turned into heavy, sagging rags. And still, everyone kept going. We danced, splashed and laughed our way through town with soaked socks and stubborn resolve. It wasn’t the launch party we imagined, but parading together with our new, intergenerational, inclusive troupe still felt like a huge win. The work matters, yes – but so does the spirit behind it.
Experimentation isn’t risky, just inventive
Since Torchlight, the pace has shifted. We’ve had time to slow down, develop skills and reflect on what went well (and what didn’t). At Youth Arts Club, we spent four weeks making Halloween masks using clay moulds, papier-mâché and reclaimed materials. It was a great reminder of how important it is to balance collective making; having one big shared vision, but giving space for individual creative ownership. The masks gave young people the chance to take a piece of work from idea to completion, experiment, make decisions, and feel genuinely proud of the final result. That sense of ownership is something we’ll be carrying forward.
It also gave us space to rethink our Torchlight experience. Even though everyone helped build the giant puppet, only three people could actually operate it at once, and it was too heavy for most of the young people who wanted to perform. They didn’t just want to march… They wanted presence, movement and agency. So we’ve now started developing smaller, lighter, youth-operated puppets and wearable parade structures, so young people can animate and lead the work, not just stand behind it.
Meanwhile, our Adult Carnival Club has been designing backpack-based costume structures for next summer’s parades. We’re now at the stage of building full-scale cardboard mock-ups to test balance, movement and comfort. This part of the process is full of trial, error and invention; adjusting, problem-solving, laughing when something collapses, fixing it, trying again. We love working this way, and everything we build is made from reclaimed materials from our Scrapstore, which means experimentation doesn’t feel risky, just inventive.
A creative space, where everyone belongs
The Ragtag Parade project was created with inclusion in mind from the very start. One of our core goals is to create a space where people of all abilities can make and perform together, not in separate streams. Because of the funding we’ve received, we’ve been able add additional facilitators so that support is built in rather than bolted on. Over the next few months, we’ll also be training a team of volunteer access buddies, helping make this way of working sustainable long-term. It’s not perfect yet, but we’re building with intention.
Even at this early stage, we can already see what Ragtag Parade is becoming. Yes, there will be spectacular moments – puppets, colour, celebration – but underneath that is something just as important: people gaining confidence, learning new skills, building friendships, and discovering that creativity is a space they belong in.
The parade is the celebration.
The making is where the magic is happening.
With Christmas fast approaching there are only a couple of sessions left before we stop for a bit of break. We will also be closing the building and pausing all our clubs throughout January for our annual reset but we are looking forward to getting started again in February, with Adult Carnival Club running on the second Wednesday of each month (10am–12:30pm or 6:30–9pm) and Youth Arts Club running every term-time Wednesday, 4–6pm. We’re also planning some really exciting masterclasses and group trips to learn from other groups and carnival artists.
There are still spaces available in both groups – so if you’d like to join the Parade, meet brilliant people and get stuck into some joyful making, you can book now.
No experience needed – just enthusiasm.
If you have access needs or require support when taking part in activities, just let us know when booking and we’ll do our best to make sure you’re properly supported.
We’d love to make with you.