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Three Cities Beacons

The fabulous Walk the Plank creative company led the way in very special celebrations to mark the 2005 Festival of Light in Derby, Leicester and Nottingham.

Beacon main

November 2005

Beacons Logo

Thousands enjoyed the lighting of a huge, stunning outdoor sculpture at the Diwali celebrations in Leicester and the Bonfire night celebrations in Derby and Nottingham.

Each city got its very own giant Beacon - designed to reflect an image of what each city means to its own people.

Walk the Plank's task was to create - and then build - a huge sculptural image to represent locals' view of their city.  Local people of different ages, interests and from varied communities were consulted and met with to discuss what their cities mean to them.

Leicester's Beacon

A stunning seven metres high globe, encircled by figures holding hands was set alight in Cossington Park as part of the Diwali Celebrations.

The beacon was designed to reflect and celebrate the city's multiculturalism and rich diversity.
Diwali Beacon
Leicester Diwali Beacon after

Derby's Beacon

A stunning design, featuring The Orrery, as made famous by Joseph Wright's painting was set alight at Markeaton Park as part of the Bonfire Celebrations.

Derby Beacon
Derby Beacon

Nottingham's Beacon

A 40ft high ferris wheel, decorated with lace and geese was set alight at the Forest Recreation Ground on Bonfire Night.

The beacon was designed to reflect the industrial heritage of the city, with mining and lace-making and the ferris wheel and geese indicating the prominence and heritage of the city's famous Goose Fair with its huge fairground.

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Walk the Plank's amazing work has been seen worldwide at events such as Commonwealth Games 2002, Singapore Festival, Greenwich and Docklands Festivals, Euro 2004, and the Imaginarius Festival in Portugal.

Find out more about Walk the Plank here

Three Cities Beacons is also supported by emda (East Midlands Development Agency).  It helps celebrate and mark emda's Cultural Quarters initative - a major investment to commission a unique programme of exciting new artwork in Derby, Lincoln, Leicester, Nottingham and Northampton, designed to highlight and celebrate developments in each location's cultural quarters, and to reflect and celebrate the region's cultural and creative strengths and its achievements in science and technology.

The result of this commission will be Under Scan.

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