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I was born in London and lived in a very multi-cultural neighbourhood. A lot of my friends come from all over the world and I became involved in a lot of their different religions and festivals.
In 1968 I moved up to Norwich with my one year old son and lived on an estate that was very quiet. There was not a lot around and in 1974,听 together with a bunch of other parents we formed our own community group, and ran a play scheme with after school activities etc.
And that鈥檚 when we first took part in the Lord Mayor鈥檚 procession in Norwich.听 I鈥檝e probably taken part every year since in the Lord Mayor鈥檚 procession.
I have spent many weekends with my close friend Frankie, learning the art of Caribbean style costume and that鈥檚 something very dear to my heart.听 I have been over to the West Indies, to Tobago and worked with a community group over there, which was so different but the needs are the same.
I just love arts and crafts and passing the skills on. I鈥檓 probably self-taught in many respects. If I see something I have a go and make it. If I have problems I might go to the library, or I phone people up and say 鈥榟ey how do you do this?鈥�. It鈥檚 trial and error really. You learn all the time. Carnival has no boundaries. Anyone can take part and you just adapt the way you make costumes. I think I鈥檒l probably do it for the rest of my life and I hope what I do is passed onto many generations, which I鈥檓 sure it will.听 |
