After years of performing at events around the globe, it turns out that Mandy is pretty nifty at creating them too. Since 2008 we have been producing community events from our base in North Essex. They have included the Harwich Children’s Carnival, Manningtree Festival (where we live) and ‘Pages of the Sea’, a celebration of Armistice Day in nearby Clacton-on-sea.
We can now add Sand Artistry to our skill set ~ well to be honest, maybe not ~ we used templates. This event was planned by Danny Boyle and the Imperial War Museum to celebrate the centenary of Armistice and we delivered our section at Clacton-on-Sea, as a ‘full on’ Community Event.
And before you ask, no we didn’t get to meet Danny Boyle!
The project was funded by Heritage Lottery and the Imperial War Museum.
Pages of the Sea.
“Oh hell, No” Standing on the freezing beach at the first light of dawn, we realised the worst thing possible had happened. The sea had thrown up a mountain of shingle that covered the entire Beach and the main event was a 11am. A pair of lonely figures started clearing the shingle. Then a few people turned up and began to help, then more and more …”
THE DIARY OF A LEMMING 2018
Harwich School’s Carnival
Who would have thought it? Over ten schools and twelve hundred children competing each year to have the best performances, costumes, bands and carnival structures that came together in a magnificent parade through the old town of Harwich. The Carnival ran for a brilliant ten years, getting bigger and better (despite the occasional downpour) until finally ending in a grand Festival of the Imagination.
Directed by Mandy and produced by the Lemmings, the Harwich Schools Carnival, was originally funded by Creative Partnerships as a platform for showing the creative work taking place in local schools. It employed dozens of visual artists, musicians and drama practitioners.
“‘Does anyone know anything about running a carnival? We want to run a schools carnival in Harwich’, asked the director of Creative Partnerships. Mandy forgot to take a step backwards and later we found ourselves in a classroom, with piles scrap materials, dozens of scissors and a book on how to make carnival masks”
THE DIARY OF A LEMMING 2006
Manningtree Festival.
When local teenagers were getting a bad press Mandy got them to organise their own festival. Ten years later it filled the town with bands, beach events, street theatre, belly dancers and plenty of ice cream!
We produced the festival for ten years with small amounts of local funding and we even had an international event on one occasion.
“At the end of the day when a young lad tried to kick the sculpture of our horse, there was local outrage. Calls were heard, to bring back flogging! On the positive side, the town had taken ownership of our horse, but on the negative side Mandy pointed out, ‘it looks like we’ll be sleeping by the horse tonight in the back of the van with doors open ready to leap out’. So it transpired we had some good late night chat’s with the local lads over a few beers”
THE DIARY OF A LEMMING 2012
