Where 24 hours earlier Belfast had seen the funeral of the murdered policeman taking place; on Saturday night it was transformed into a party. The entire street from City Hall to the Waterfront was full of children dressed as rats, a samba band, carnival performers, a brass band (playing the about-to-be-performed Pied Piper theme) and a lot of shoppers and passers-by who seemed both baffled and delighted that their feet and hips were moving of their own accord. Local TV news covered the parade and broadcast footage later that evening.
The entire project worked with primary schools and dance schools all over Northern Ireland, with children from all communities. There was a choir on stage, made up of four of the Belfast schools, singing as part of the Ulster Orchestra. There were dancers from the dance schools and the carnival parade was led by children from four primary schools outside Belfast. The standard was very high indeed. Composer Brian Irvine also narrated the piece and for just over an hour we were all in Hamlyn. The audience, by my estimate, was 50% children who were enraptured (and vocal – "Mum!! Rats!").
In other words, this was a brilliant example of what the Cultural Olympiad is all about. The Ulster Orchestra decided to try something like never before, working with a lot of different schools (which we are encouraging to register with Get Set, obviously) from across the communities and living the Olympic and Paralympic Values. It paid off and we can’t wait for their next idea.
I’m still buzzing – not bad on three hours sleep.
