Festival of Light parade in Newbury
Sunday will see hundreds of lanterns carried through the town
Last updated 12th Dec 2025
This Sunday sees the annual Newbury festival of light parade.
On the weekends leading up to the event, local people of all ages have been invited to make traditional pyramid lanterns from willow and paper at free craft-making sessions.
Local community groups including Berkshire Youth, Bishops Green Community, Greenham Community Centre and the 1st Wash Common Scout group have all run workshops.
Not all the designs are standard in the past some have included Paddington Bear, an octopus and a galloping horse.
More than 30,000 people have engaged and witnessed the Festival of Light over the past thirteen years, with over 10,000 having taken part.
Starting in Northbrook Street the glowing procession culminates in the Market Place with live music.
Beautiful
Danielle Corbishley, Head of 101 & Outdoor Arts for the Corn Exchange Newbury said:
"Every year the Corn Exchange and 101 Outdoor Arts create over a thousand lantern packs to send out to local community groups, schools and for our public lantern making workshops at 101 Outdoor Arts. These packs enable people to make their own beautiful willow and paper candlelit pyramid lanterns to bring to the Festival of Light.
"We also sell out over 60 places for our lantern making for the Brave workshops where families and groups spend the whole weekend at 101 conceiving and designing their own exciting large sculptural lantern. We're extremely excited to see what creations the people of Newbury will make this year.
"The event has been running for 13 years now, and we love to see people's confidence grow with their lantern-making each year. And of course, the event itself, which features fantastic live music, a community drumming ensemble and lots of heart and community spirit."
The event, organised by Newbury corn exchange, starts at 4 in Northbrook Street on Sunday 14 December.