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| East Manchester Academy |
I’ve just finished a spot of volunteering for the Manchester
Day Parade 2012, and the parade itself was a wonderful end to an enjoyable and
rewarding experience.
The first Manchester Day Parade took place in 2010, with
Walk the Plank, a brilliant arts and events company, engaged to produce it. I volunteered,
and enjoyed it so much they’ve not been able to get rid of me since!
The Parade website has lots of information
about the event and its background (and you might stumble across a video with a
bit of me on!) but at its heart it is a celebration of the spirit and diversity
of Manchester, with people from all walks of life involved in its creation. Each
year has a theme, the year was The Sky's the Limit, and community groups work with artists to turn their ideas
into some amazing creations.
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| My Nest! |
As a volunteer, my involvement started in May with
attendance at a couple of Mas Camp weekends, where some of the artists, community
groups, and volunteers, work on elements of the parade. I really enjoy the
making side, so have always asked if there is any extra help needed outside
these weekends, and this year did quite a bit of ‘extra’ volunteering in evenings
and weekends. It’s so interesting to see everything start to take shape and to
get involved, and you meet such a great mix of people. Towards the later stages
of preparation, I mainly helped one of the artists, Brian, as he had a
lot of work on making costumes for three separate groups, and constructing an
18 foot air hostess! Many of the costumes used lots of colourful
florists ribbon, which I loved working with, and so much of my time at the
workshop was spent in what I came to term ‘ribbon corner’. In fact Jan, one of
the project managers, did suggest I was making a nest out of florists ribbon,
and I have to say, that’s not a bad idea!
It all comes together on Parade day, which is the first time
you see all the elements of the parade assemble. Many have been made away from
the workshop, for example, with the community groups, so it's only on the day when
the sheer scale of it becomes truly apparent. I somehow managed to be appointed
volunteer team leader at the workshop, although I’m not sure how much actual
leading was taking place from me (apart from sneakily cherry picking a few people at
registration who I knew would be good!) The real organisation on the day is
done by the production team, and ‘my’ volunteers were fabulous, getting stuck
in where they were needed with little intervention from me , moving stuff up to
the parade start, and even getting involved in some last minute making (including
creating balloon structures and emergency superhero finishing!) |
| LGBT Youth |
The busiest time for me was as Brian’s groups started to
arrive, as I was helping get them into their costumes, especially as the
largest group with the most complex costumes, the lovely ladies from the East
Manchester Academy, were not arriving until nearly 1pm. Although this was
slightly crazy, as I had helped with many of the elements of the costumes, it
was great to see them be worn, and by the skin of our teeth, and with lots of
people pitching in to help, we managed to get everyone up to their starting
positions in time and in costume.
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| Flying High! |
During the parade I helped to marshal, it was a wonderful
atmosphere, the sun came out, the crowds were huge and seemed to be enjoying
themselves, and my group, the Manchester Carers, looked beautiful as they
danced through the streets.
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| Superheroes of the future |
With a couple of my former MIF buddies, Michelle and Alison,
who had also volunteered (mainly through my badgering), I ended the day with a
well earned drink, bizarrely on a beach in Castlefield, and we all agreed it
had been a great day. Looking back at the many photos on the internet (some of the best I've seen are here), I’m so
happy to have been part of it once again, and proud of my involvement. Fingers
crossed there is a 2013 parade, and they let me back!
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