Competition: can you design a lantern to lead this year’s Leamington Lantern Parade?

The Spa Centre, which is staging a pantomime version of the fairytale this Christmas, is running a competition along with the parade organiser BID Leamington and Warwick District Council, in which people can download a colouring sheet and design their ‘giant’ lantern, then submit their design.

The winner will see their lantern lead the parade, which takes place in the town centre on December 6, as well as a family ticket to see the pantomime at the Spa Centre, which will be staged from December 5 to January 2. Five runners-up will also receive a pair of tickets to the show, while every design entered will become part of a display at the Spa Centre over the Christmas period.

The first Leamington Lantern Parade took place in 2011 as a partnership between BID Leamington and Community Arts Workshop. The idea was to work with the community to make lanterns out of willow and tissue, then parade them through town on a winter evening, to reflect the town’s past history of illuminations.

As in previous years, five free lantern-making workshops will take place at the Pump Room and Dormer Place Conference Centre on weekends in November from 10am to 4pm.

To download a colouring sheet, visit www.warwickdc.gov.uk/royalspacentre/events/event/476/leamington_lantern_parade

Entries must be in by Monday (November 2).

Colouring sheets can also be picked up at Leamington town hall.

To find out more about the parade, including details of the workshops (the first one takes place this Sunday at the Pump Room), visit www.leamingtonlanternparade.co.uk or call 01926 470634.