Community Spirit - Carnival Queen

Another of the pieces from Carnival, this time one of the Queens. Lets hope the weather stays dry for the next two days for this, the 43rd Carnival. See the blog entry for Arthur France for more details of the history of the event.

Hand stitched on printed fabric by Godfrey Harland (17 hours)

Community Spirit - Arthur France MBE

Meanwhile, back to the Carnival. This picture is of Arthur France, the founder of the event, with two friends. We haven't a record of who he's with or which year of the Carnival the photograph was taken, so, if he or any of his friends read this, please let us know. There's an interview with him on this site, so I'll let him speak for himself.

Arthur believed that the West Indians, scattered across the country, “needed something to bind us together as people of the Caribbean”. By 1967 the first truly Caribbean carnival in the country, under a black British committee, took place in Leeds. It celebrated its Snow, or carnival queen, danced to the Gay Carnival Steel Band and entertained the city with its procession of fantastic troupes.

In 2009 it's estimated that over 150,000 people attended the three day event which takes place in Chapeltown and Harehills over the August Bank Holiday weekend every year.

In 1997 Arthur France was awarded the MBE for his work with the local community.

The embroidery was hand stitched by Sheila Exley and Jean Nichols on printed fabric (26 hours).

Community Spirit Panel

This panel represents The Leeds Festival, instigated by Arthur France and originating in Chapeltown. The colorful procession winds down the road with fireworks in the distance and on either side of the road are many and varied community groups looking on.

Collecting images was probably more time consuming than on any of the other panels. Unlike the Civic Pride panel the people here are real and even when groups had expressed interest in being represented (over 1,000 community groups were approached by letter), there was then the lengthy process of getting suitable photographs of their members at events.

Jan Wells, free-lance photographer and video maker, worked with many individuals and groups to produce images of themselves authentically. Martin Banks and Paul Wilkinson were also hired to attend and record other community events. Other photographs were given by the groups themselves or by volunteers already with the Tapestry.