Lantern Events at Smithills!
The Woodland Trust 2018 – 2022
The Brief
We were delighted when the team at Smithills got in touch – they’d heard about our performances at the lantern walks at Skipton Castle Woods – would we consider creating a stand-alone lantern adventure for them? The Smithills Estate had just been taken over by the Trust and the first job was to engage communities with the important work that needed to be done!
What We Did
For our first year the lantern adventures were to be hosted by Smithills Hall, whilst the Trust built a car park up on the estate itself. The team already had a fantastic team of skilled volunteers on board and we snapped up their offer to be involved! We created a brand new Lantern Event featuring magical characters which we supported with free withy lantern making workshops for families which they could then bring on the adventure at dusk!
The Result
The events proved hugely popular and helped to create a loyal family audience who re-attended future events at the estate. The lantern events were re-commissioned for 2019 with new stories and characters, and in 2022 we took our first groups on lantern adventures up on the moorland at Walkers Fold! Our events at Smithills went from strength to strength with the same family audiences coming back for Christmas, Spring and Summer events with us!
“The event yesterday was absolutely brilliant, thank you so much! Our volunteers LOVED being involved with the show! Two of our wardens, who usually go out patrolling our footpaths, have now become fully-fledged wizards’ assistants and they couldn’t stop smiling!”
Want this for your event?
If you would like us to deliver this sort of performance at your venue, get in touch.