a day ago
Hundreds gather for Stoke-on-Trent's centenary parade
"It really is going to knock everyone's socks off," says the organiser of a parade taking place to mark a city's are gathering on the streets of Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, to watch the People's Parade - the centrepiece of ongoing 100th birthday procession, featuring huge puppets, live music and dancing, will begin at 13:00 BST with about 800 participants marching for 1.5 miles (2.4km) from College Road to finish at Hanley Susan Clarke, from Stoke Creates, said: "We don't tell the world enough how good we are at doing stuff and how creative and imaginative we are.
"Take us seriously, stop putting us down because there's no reason to do that now."More than 350 artists worked with 70 groups across the city on the procession - with the puppets including a representation of Burslem-born Lemmy from Motörhead, a giant clock and a 16ft-high (4.4m) figure which can interact with onlookers.
Costume maker Holly Johnson has made 100 cupcake costumes that will be worn by pupils from Angela Beardmore School of said: "I've been told I could go to other cities and I could maybe do better, but we love Stoke so much that we want to help build the community here and we just wanted to keep help building the arts here."Dave Lovatt, from Cat & Mouse Theatre Group, said he would be "getting the crowd roused up and excited" by sharing stories of local heroes on a said famed residents represented in the parde would include Sir Stanley Matthews, Robbie Williams and athlete Jazmin from Year 7 at Haywood Academy have worked with artist Emily Andrews to create a replica of the city's incinerator, with an invented creature protruding from it that is part fox, part children will be feeding litter, picked along the route, to the "foxalotl" and recycling it afterwards."I grew up in Stoke, it's a big part of my life and a big part of who I am," Ms Andrews said.
The six towns, which were granted city status by King George V on 5 June 1925, marked the first official Stoke-on-Trent Day on Thursday.
Celebrations culminate on Saturday with Party in the Park at Hanley Park, with performances from local musicians and street food stalls.A Lancaster Bomber will fly over it just after 15:00 BST, approaching from Stoke-on-Trent College and continuing to the city city's Lord Mayor Steve Watkins said it would be a "spectacular moment", symbolising the city's wartime contribution and "longstanding history of service and resilience".A free street party with eight hours of dance music is also taking place on Piccadilly, Hanley, on Saturday from 14:00 to 23:00.
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