To spread the excitement about the Paralympic Flame we will be encouraging individuals, communities and organisations to ‘put their flame on the map’ by hosting a lantern themed event. At the core of these events is the idea of creating visual displays using light/lanterns to be captured in photos and added to an interactive map showing all the flame activity over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Light a Lantern will be promoted both through the Paralympic Torch Relay and Local Leaders.
We will be encouraging the UK to hold Lantern events on the day their national flame is lit (England Friday 24th Aug, N. Ireland Saturday 25th, Scotland 26th, Wales 27th Aug) with a lighting moment at around 8.30pm (dusk) across the country.
On the August Bank Holiday Weekend the Paralympic Games (starts Wednesday 29th) will be less than a week away and we will be linking Light a Lantern to the idea of supporting local athletes about to compete through lanterns decorated with good luck messages ranging to larger visuals formed through multiple lanterns put together.
What will a Light a Lantern activity might look like for students?
Examples of what a Light a Lantern event might look like:
- Creating bespoke lanterns to run as features on the
- Creating an aerial shot in an open space, such as a park, formed through multiple lanterns
- e.g. a Good Luck ParalympicsGB message
- Lining the route – from the evening of 28th August the Paralympic Flame will be travelling through the night from Stoke Mandeville to the opening ceremony in London and we will be encouraging people to cheer on the torchbearers and animate
What support will Light a Lantern events have from LOCOG?
A press release template will be made available to help publicise events
- A branded template will be made available for posters and save the date fliers
- Publicity through the London 2012 events database
- Marked on an interactive map of the UK showing Flame Festival and Flame celebrations taking place across the UK
- Regionalised emails to the Local Leader database publicising events to take part in their area
- Light a Lantern publicised through Journey emails to our database of 4 million people
Light a Lantern toolkit – in order to give inspiration and help people celebrate the Paralympic Torch Relay we will provide the following on the Local Leader website:
- How to make a lantern at home pdf template (including lanterns in the shape of the Paralympic Torch)
- Blue Peter-esque film showing how to make lanterns
- Information about local athletes to support through CRM communications
- Case studies of how individuals and organisations (e.g. some festival projects) intend to celebrate Light a Lantern to offer inspiration to Local Leaders looking to join/plan events