Call goes out to join South Shields' big parade

The annual Summer Parade is one of the key events in the South Tyneside Festival and brings three months of music and family entertainment to venues across South Shields.

This year’s theme will be Monsters, Myths and Magic, and organisers are aiming to involve hundreds of youth groups, schools and community organisations under the artistic direction of South Shields-based Creative Seed - which is run by Garner and Sandy Harris.

The event takes place on Saturday, June 30, and is, again, expected to involve floats, colourful costumes, singing and dancing, as it weaves its way from South Shields Town Hall to Bents Park.

Garner, director at Creative Seed, is calling on groups to get involved.

He said: “The Summer Parade is a fantastic event, and this is a great opportunity for people to come together in a big celebration. We want to involve as many people as possible.

“Each year the parade gets bigger and better, and we are working on some exciting ideas to make this year’s even more special.”

He added: “We will be hosting a ‘visioning’ event with group leaders and interested parties next week so they can come along and really see how they can get involved this time round.

Coun Alan Kerr, deputy leader of South Tyneside Council with responsibility for culture and leisure, added: “We want to make the parade a big celebration, featuring as many people as we possibly can. The team at Creative Seed has some incredible plans and ideas, and I am looking forward to seeing the result of all their hard work this summer.”

As part of the preparations for this year’s event, Garner and Sandy Harris, of Creative Seed, will be meeting school, community and voluntary group leaders at The Word, National Centre for the Written Word, at Market Place from 5.30pm this Friday.

Any groups that cannot attend the meeting but are interested in taking part in the parade are advised to contact the events team at South Tyneside Council on (0191) 4247986 or email [email protected]