The making of Cosmo – our award-winning dragon!

A couple of weekends ago, it was the Ringwood Carnival and for the first time since before the pandemic, Ringwood Waldorf School had a float. And not only that, but we also won several prizes – a first prize and the Michael Lingham-Willgood trophy for Best in Show.

The day – with its two processions – was the culmination of weeks of work and some of the carnival committee were on site from 7am putting finishing touches to the float as a thunderstorm had hindered us getting Cosmo, our dragon, on to the float on the Friday evening.

The float was put together since coming back from the summer holidays and has been a labour of love for the carnival committee, who are hoping to make the Ringwood carnival an annual fixture in the calendar. If you want to join the committee or the community group who were also hugely involved, come and speak to Liz, Susana, Nicole, Nicky, Erica, Andy or Merriam.

Here's how our float got into award-winning shape!

Creative planning and getting a truck

We couldn’t have done it without Harvey! He spoke to his employer Jan de Rijk Logistics, who let him use the truck for the carnival. We also needed someone with massive experience to navigate our articulated 16.5 metre truck around the tiny streets of Ringwood. I think everyone was breathing in at points!

There were several meetings and creative planning sessions throughout the summer holidays, and it was decided that for this carnival, we should do a dragon that tied in with our Michaelmas celebrations. We also had a knight on a bike making sure our tamed dragon was behaving – just like in the story that class 3 perform in our Michaelmas assembly. The bike was ridden by Bailey who did a brilliant job.

Creative Crafting
Once the idea of the dragon was agreed on, it was weeks of crafting! We made the shape for the dragon and head out of chicken wire, after an ex-pupil Megan drew the design. Then families came in over weeks to paper mâché the tail and head. Susana, Erica, Nicole, Andy and crew then crafted and shaped the head, adding teeth, bamboo and grass eyelashes and eyes that glowed in the dark - a point the judges loved! Then it was painting, decoration, more painting, more decoration and more painting – all the details, even down to the dragon poo. It really has been a school community project.

Many of you might not have realised that Cosmo was resting behind the screens during the 50^th weekend – partially finished. The week running up to the carnival included collections of lights, haybales and material, more call out for lights and cutting of bamboo for finishing touches!

Heavy lifting
A couple of nights before the carnival, some of the committee crew (Andy, Pete and Harvey) fitted scaffolding (donated by Plug Scaffolding and parent Pete) on to the base of the lorry. This was so we could use the height for more decoration and stringing lights (so the crowd could see us in the evening procession), but we also wanted to make sure we had some railings to keep the people on the lorry safer.

The night before the carnival processions, a team of volunteers came to move Cosmo from the hall out to the truck parked outside. We had some good fortune (we could get him through the doors!) and some bad. As soon as we loaded him onto the truck, the heavens opened with a massive thunderstorm. So far everyone who I’ve mentioned this to in the surrounding area had no rain but for us, it was super dramatic!

Saturday was an early start for some, getting Cosmo secured and the lorry decorated. Once Cosmo was in place, it was time to check that the smoke machine for his dragon’s breath worked, get the sides on, the lights on, the drums on board and face painting for the parents and pupils who were going to be on the float or walking alongside, handing out flyers about our lovely school. We also had an epic lighting rig and amazing sound thanks to Hagop and Gav, and Nigel down at the industrial park, ensuring that everyone would be safe once we got on the move.

Fiesta time
We had two processions – an afternoon and an evening one – with not much of a break in between. It was a fiesta right from the get-go – makeup, costumes, drumming – thanks to the drums from Andy and Faith, and the coolest tunes through our sound system. Kids and parents alike joined the carnival, and we definitely showed our school’s spirit. It was also fantastic to see so many parents, pupils and teachers watching the parades, waving and shouting from the crowds.

We had several interviews with judges during the day and then the big news just before the evening procession – we had won! It was so emotional and after the weeks of work, it felt terrific to have put our name out there and to be celebrated for our creativity and tenacity.

And it didn’t end then – there were hardcore parents at the school on Sunday to clear the float, getting soaked in torrential rain again(!) until the lorry was completely clear for Harvey to go to work again on Sunday evening!

Hard work absolutely. Would we do it again? Definitely – we are looking for more people to join the committee which will probably meet in the summer term, a little earlier than this year to decide our theme. Let Liz know your name and then we’ll know to keep you in the loop when we get there.

And superhuman thanks goes to carnival committee for pulling together such a fantastic community effort, particularly Susana, Nicole, Erika, Nicks and Andy. We cannot wait until next year!