Lord Mayor’s Show: Moving a Mountain

I’ve actually never been to the Lord Mayor’s Show as I generally assume these kind of events aren’t really my cup of tea. However, it was such good fun and there was a real sense of team spirit as soon as we arrived and had our faces painted with the Tanzanian flag. And the atmosphere as we moved round the streets of London carrying Mount Kilimanjaro was amazing. I’ve never had my hand slapped so may times! ( more details about the cause in my prior blog.)

Below are a few photos of the Wings of Kilimanjaro float moving through the City – although they don’t really capture the real impressiveness of the design as I was so up close to it.

Fortunately the BBC interviewed Squash Falconer as we moved along the streets giving the cause plenty of exposure, as well as showing a great aerial view of the float.

View the video here or at at 25:42 on the BBC iPlayer:  http://bbc.in/XsmWZ4

The design of the float, whilst simple, was really effective – a mountain made with panels of gauze, sewn together to look like Kilimanjaro with a parachute on top. Each of us volunteers spread ourselves around the base of the mountain where we had two handles to hold so we could open the mountain out when the roads widened, or take it in when it got a bit tight!

The atmosphere was amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever had my hand slapped so many times…..

Accompanying us and drumming up the atmosphere were a group of African bongo players…

We had a bit of a tight moment getting through a bridge!

When the roads widened we could drop a handle and “spread the mountain.”

Obviously, it was a bit of a grey day and rain threatened throughout – so I’ve jazzed up the photos with a bit of Picasa!

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