Ilkeston Town Centre

Enter the Dragon

Residents and visitors have a chance to join the sparkling celebrations to mark Chinese New Year on 21st January - the finale of Erewash Borough Council’s annual Festival of Light.

As part of the festivities, Erewash Museum will be holding workshops and art activities for children of all ages to make Chinese lanterns and other Chinese crafts between 10am and 3.30pm.  Anyone interested can just call in on the day and there will be a small charge of £1 for lantern making.

Long Eaton town centre will host a celebration of traditional dragon dancing by young adults from Long Eaton Youth Services and ribbon dancing by children from Sandiacre Children’s Centre at 2pm.  

The grand finale will be a colourful lantern procession to launch the Year of the Dragon through Ilkeston Market Place, where there will be a celebration of dancing and entertainment for all the family.

The lantern procession will start from Erewash Museum at 5.30pm and will feature a Chinese dragon, and dragon and Lucky Fish puppets made by pupils in local schools with the help of a professional artist.

The parade will make its way to the Market Place where the celebration will feature:
•    students from Ormiston Ilkeston Academy performing a traditional Chinese New Year dragon dance with a dragon made by pupils at            Friesland School in Sandiacre.
•    a Lucky Fish dance performed by young adults from the Cantelupe Group in Ilkeston.
•    Dancing accompanied by live Chinese percussion music and singing by students from Field House Infant and Nursery School   

      in Ilkeston, all led by a classically-trained Chinese musician.
 
Councillor Mike Wallis, Erewash Borough Council’s Lead Member for Culture and Leisure, says:
 
“Our annual Chinese New Year celebration has become a firm family favourite and is both fun and a great spectacle for everyone. It is a wonderful finale to our Festival of Light programme that takes in all the winter celebrations from Bonfire Night through to this event.

“Once again, we have young people of all ages taking part within local schools in readiness for the day and we hope to see lots of children at the Museum workshops for some fun craft sessions. And, of course, we know residents will love seeing the ribbon dancing in Long Eaton and the procession at Ilkeston.”
 
Erewash Museum is in Ilkeston Town centre, a short walk from the Market Place. Normal opening hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10am-4pm and Monday to Saturday during school holidays. Last entry is 3.30pm.
Admission is free. For more information contact 0115 9071141 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it