On Saturday 6 June, we partnered with Chichester BID, Chichester Cathedral, Culture Spark, Luke Brown Company, Pallant House Gallery and The Novium Museum to host a jam-packed day of free activities across the city centre to mark the beginning of The Great Big Green Week. It may have been rainy, but we didn’t let that stop us! Scroll on to see what we got up to in the gorgeous photos from the day.

At the heart of the event was Walk of the Dandelion, a heartwarming, interactive walk with an 8-foot puppet named Daniel, presented by Luke Brown Company.

Daniel walked through the city centre in the morning, meeting members of the community and giving out messages of positivity.

People of all ages joined in and shared moments of connection, joy and fun.

Throughout the day, families visited the accompanying craft workshop on Cathedral Green to make their own woollen dandelions with kind messages to share with others.

There were drop-in activities and performances in the city centre throughout the day: storyteller Danyah Miller, Beats for 3 playing recycled instruments, West Sussex Sing community choir, and plant pot decorating with artist Vicky Brown. Passers by had some fun whilst sheltering from the rain or enjoyed a creative break from their busy Saturdays.

Pallant House Gallery hosted a weaving workshop using recycled materials led by artist educator Laura Buckle. 

Here at CFT, families could play with props and costumes from our Props Store, make their own puppets from recycled materials with Chloe Bradbury, one of our Future Theatre Makers, and learn about fighting food waste from local charity UK Harvest.

Daniel met audiences in the Festival Theatre foyer before the matinee show, accompanied by live music from folk duo, Jessy & Levi.

There was a warm, joyous atmosphere across the city and the activities sparked conversations about community, nature and climate change which we hope will continue.

Visit our Green webpage to learn more about the action we're taking to be more sustainable and upcoming events, including our production of Atlantis in the Minerva Theatre and the accompanying panel discussion.