More Carnival Footage and Vox Pops

as shown at last night's Big Launch of Transition Town Tooting

Trashcatchers Carnival Highlights

Check out the first videos from yesterday's Trashcatchers' Carnival in Tooting! Firstly we have some film of the parade in the Upper Tooting Rd.

And then there's a unique turtle's eye view of the start!

And thanks also to people who have put up photostreams and blog posts:

Mainly Malsara's Photos (TTT blog)

Rachel Wheeley's Photos and Blog post

Simon Maggs' Photos

Jonathan Buckley's Photos (Mainly Lido)

Leo's Photos

Keep them coming!

Trashcatchers Carnival on ITV News

Today's Trashcatchers' Carnival in Tooting was a great community event and we think a great success!  ITV's London Tonight aired a minute and a half's footage at 6.30 this evening which you can view here (we rushed them some Carnival stills just in time to hit the news deadline - see pics below)         Press Release Now Also Available

Counting Down to July 4th

Click on the poster below for all the details you need to know for Sunday's Trashcatchers' Carnival including the authorised route and the finish point on oft-locked Fishponds playing fields!  We can't wait!

The Eve Of The Carnival

After many months of hard work by hundreds of carnivalistas, combined with the ingenious creativity of the artists and carnival makers, the Carnival is almost upon us. Come and see this amazing procession and be part of its magic tomorrow at 2pm when the Tooting Trashcatchers Carnival comes to town!

Here are some of the last minute preparations around Tooting this week:

Introducing the Carnivalistas!

All the following groups are contributing to the carnival... all over Tooting their lovely carnivalistas are busy making giant characters, animals and even a replica of the lido to parade through Tooting on Sunday...

SHARE Community Gardens, Springfield Hospital

Ernest Bevin School

Franciscan School

Chestnut Grove School

South Thames College

The Asian Elders Association

Furzedown Community Association

Body Action

South London Swimming Club at Tooting Bec Lido

Fircroft School

Graveney School

The Great Gustos Choir

Sellincourt School

Beatrix Potter Allotment

Sprout Arts Centre

Price Close

The Hub Youth Group

Wandsworth Council Street Cleaners

We've been receiving lots of support from lovely people across Tooting donating food, drink, furniture, shopping trollies, paint, fabric and much much more.  We'll put a list of thank you's up on the site soon but in the meantime THANK YOU to you all!

Come and see us at our Carnival Factory

Here are some first pictures of activities kicking off at the Carnival factory, making, sewing, drumming, dyeing, acting, weaving and decorating.  All welcome - come down between 11 and 6 every day until the Carnival - Broadway Studios, 28 Tooting High Street.

Get in the carnival spirit!

Want to get into the Carnival spirit and really be ready to take part on the day?   Here’s how to make a carnival headress, a balloon trumpet and a song you can learn to sing on the day.

Instructions for making a CARNIVAL HEADRESS
You need the following ingredients and tools
Wire coat hanger preferably with the fine foam covering (but it's not really necessary).
Plastic bag handles, corners and other bits in colours of your choice...plastic pan scrubs, nets from fruit etc.
Hot iron
Greaseproof paper
Table or ironing board

And here is how...
Cover table/board with greaseproof paper and place coathanger on top
Fold plastic bag handles around the top wire of the coat hanger so they stick up like rabbit ears or flames
Put another layer of greaseproof over it Place hot iron over the paper so the plastic melts underneath (experiment with length of time, pressure, heat of iron).  Gently remove the paper when plastic has melted.  Add other pieces of plastic bag etc .so you have a row of 'rabbit ears' or 'flames' rising from the top of the coat hanger..
Bend the bottom wire so it fits behind your head.
Crown yourself or a friend with it
Admire!

Forget vuvuzelas - here are some instructions for making your own BALLOON TRUMPET to join in the sounds at the carnival...

 ... or come and make one at the Carnival Factory this week.

... and for those of you who feel like testing out their vocal chords take some time to practice a SONG which will be sung during the carnival procession – it's called Senzeni Na (What Have We Done?) and it comes from South Africa. You can listen to a version of it here on U-Tube

Carnival Creation Event on the 1st June

Enthusiastic Tooting residents from all ages and walks of life came together for the Carnival Creation event held in June to create metres of bunting and decorations for the Trashcatchers Carnival.

South London Swimming Club and Jane from Graveney School showed off their creations and talked about what they were doing for the Carnival.

Lucy from Transition Town Tooting showing how to make plastic lace from plastic shopping bags.

The event closed with refreshments and a demonstration of the work that was created that evening.
Further workshops are due to take place over the coming weeks leading up to the Carnival on the 4^th July, details of these will be posted on our web site.

Tooting Bec Lido workshops well under way!

Here are some pictures from the first of the lido's making workshop at Sprout Arts in Moyser Road as part of the Furzedown Festival.  The South London Swimming Club are planning to build a float representing the lido (see picture to the right).  Can you spot which bits of the float are being created in the shots below?

The SLSC are also planning a fabulous Fountain Lady to join the parade!

Join in future Lido Float workshops dates coming up include:

Sunday 13 June - Tooting Bec Lido 10am-1pm
Saturday 19 June - Furzedown Festival Fun Day, Recreation Ground off Chillerton Road, SW17 12-5pm
Sunday 20 June - Tooting Bec Lido 10am-1pm
Saturday 26 June - Tooting Bec Lido 9am-12noon
Sunday 27 June - Tooting Bec Lido 10am-1pm
Saturday 3 July - Tooting Bec Lido - as long as it takes!