The popular Christmas Lantern Festival returns to Beeston this Friday (9 December 2016), with Cross Flatts Park once again set to be filled with lanterns and lights, and hundreds of people gathering for live music, carols, interactive arts, animal petting, story-telling, and more.
Now in its fourth year, this free family-friendly event is becoming an established feature of the local community calendar. It centres around the Watsonia Pavilion at the top end of the park – and attendees are invited to come in via the big gate on Beeston Road, where there will be live music.
Activities start from 5.45pm, and the main event starts at 6.30pm (and will end by 7.30pm latest). Wrap up warm, but there will be both indoor and outdoor space. Bring a lantern or light if possible. Free drinks, mince pies and roast chestnuts will be served.
Local resident Mark Hodgkinson from the Salvation Army commented:
“The Lantern Festival’s a brilliant opportunity for everyone in the community to come together to celebrate Christmas. The park will be lit up with hundreds of lanterns: lights shining in the darkness, as a symbol of the hope that we believe the birth of Jesus brings. Indeed, this year’s festival will focus on our hopes this Christmas – for our families, our community, and our world.”
The event is organised by the Church Together in LS11, with the support of the Salvation Army and Leeds City Council. Volunteers are welcome to come help out, anytime between 10am and 8pm on the day: just come to the Watsonia Pavilion, or get in touch via FB.
