Falmouth students shine in the City of Lights Festival

Four giant paper-clad lanterns created by second-year BA(Hons) Contemporary Crafts students from University College Falmouth were one of the highlights in this year's City of Lights Festival.

Thousands of people from across Cornwall braved the blustery winds and joined the happy throng as they lined the streets of Truro to watch the impressive array of lanterns of all shapes and sizes created by Falmouth students, local schools and community groups ebb and flow with the gusts of wind as they passed by.

The theme for this year's parade was Truro's History with members of the Truro Historical Project research group having gathered together fascinating stories relating to its mercantile, social and maritime past.

Working with lead artist, Billy Wynter, the Falmouth students responded to the unearthed stories of Truro's past by creating four lanterns for this year's parade including, Morgawr, Cornish for sea giant, and one of the largest lanterns to take part in the City of Lights parade in the past 13 years, who is seen chasing a small fishing boat.

To gasps of wonder and delighted clapping from the crowds, Falmouth's giant lanterns made their way through the streets of Truro carried by the students. Their other lanterns, Storm in a Teacup, where a ship battles the waves of tea; the Floating City and the Mermaid Boat were interspersed throughout the parade with lanterns made by local school children, a bagpipe marching band, vibrant samba dancers, and traditional brass band. Each of the lanterns are made out of withies, bamboo, tissue and electric lights and were made in two and half weeks in the Design Centre on the Tremough Campus, Penryn.

After a successful participation with City of Lights over the past four years, we were delighted to once again be a part of such an important festival in Cornwall's diary that begins the Christmas celebrations in style," said Gayle Mathias, Senior Lecturer on BA(Hons) Contemporary Crafts. "The students worked together as a team whilst developing their own artistic voice through the creative designs they developed using a range of skills both traditional and contemporary, redefining the idea of craft and its place in today's fast paced technological world."

There will be another chance to see these beautifully crafted lanterns when they take part in the Falmouth Christmas Lights Parade on Sunday 29 November. The parade begins at 5pm from Events Square, led by Father Christmas, Falmouth's school children with a steam traction engine and Falmouth's Rotary Christmas Float and will culminate on The Moor, when the Christmas lights will be switched on at 6pm. For full details, pick up a copy of the Christmas Events Guide, sponsored by the Falmouth Business Improvement District (BID) from the Tourist Information Office.

"We are delighted that students from University College Falmouth are sharing their creative talents with us and participating in Falmouth's Christmas Parade," said Town Centre Manager, David Pollard. "We are proud that they are part of our community."

For further information about BA(Hons) Contemporary Crafts at University College Falmouth, visit www.falmouth.ac.uk/contemporarycrafts, email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01326 214356.

University College Falmouth is the only independent Higher Education institution in Cornwall with the powers to award degrees in its own name. It has two campuses in Cornwall - at Woodlane in Falmouth and Tremough in Penryn (which it owns, and jointly manages with the University of Exeter) - and a third campus at Totnes in Devon, following its merger with Dartington College of Arts in 2008.

This merger created a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing. The Devon-based courses will relocate to a new, high-specification Performance Centre at Tremough in 2010, paving the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2012/2013 that will be unique to the South West.

The College is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall Council.

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For further information about University College Falmouth, please contact Jilly Easterby MCIPR, Head of Public Affairs, Telephone: 01326 213792, or email: jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk  

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