Lantern loveliness: Kids create their own luminous lights for Diwali

Diwali is known around the world as the ‘Festival of Light’.

With that ‘bright’ fact in mind, one Huddersfield Gurdwara went the extra mile to ensure their youngest members engaged with all of this year’s festivities by hosting lantern making workshops.

Hardeep Bhangra, education secretary at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara on Prospect Street, headed up the initiative this year, helping dozens of children create a special Diwali memory.

He explained: “Every year at the temple we have Diwali celebrations.

“We have lots of lovely food and a fantastic fireworks display, however, this year; we wanted to do something a little bit different. So I decided to do a lantern making workshop.

“We used little LED lights so that it was safe for the kids and around 50 children in total made the lanterns.

“It was nice for them to sit down and do something creative amongst all the hustle and bustle of the festivities.”

Hardeep is no stranger to creative workshops, having been the head of many projects at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in the past.

He continued: “I think it brings an element of creativity to the day. It gives the kids a chance to physically make something too.

“They were able to take the lanterns home too, so they can remember this special day.”

The workshop ran smoothly but with access to an array of gloopy paints, it wasn’t exactly a ‘mess-free’ experience.

Hardeep laughed: “I had about three tables and we had to condense it, it was getting out of hand. As soon as they got the paints out, it really kicked off.”