Light Up The Town

The Light Up The Town project successfully brought communities together across Fenland and West Suffolk, transforming local towns with stunning light projection art during early 2025. Collaborating with SDNA Moving Image, the project illuminated public spaces and historic buildings, creating magical evenings that brought residents together during the transition from winter to spring.

We saw over 1,500 of you visit the light shows that lit up buildings in Chatteris, March, Wisbech, Whittlesey, Brandon, Mildenhall, and Newmarket in early 2025.

West Suffolk Light Shows

The West Suffolk leg of the project featured three captivating evenings:

  • Brandon came alive on Tuesday, 25th February at the Town Council’s Old School House on Market Hill
  • Mildenhall was beautifully illuminated on Wednesday, 26th February at St. Mary’s Church
  • Newmarket concluded the West Suffolk shows on Thursday, 27th February at St. Mary’s Church

Fenland Light Celebrations

The Fenland towns followed with their own spectacular light displays:

  • Wisbech kicked off on Monday, 3rd March at Museum Square
  • March hosted its event on Wednesday, 5th March at the Town Hall
  • Chatteris shone brightly on Thursday, 6th March at the Church of St Peter & St Paul
  • Whittlesey concluded the series on Friday, 7th March at Saint Mary’s Church

Community Response

The free, family-friendly events drew significant community participation. Residents enjoyed the experiencing the mesmerising light projections that transformed familiar local landmarks into canvases of artistic expression.

The project successfully achieved its goal of reconnecting communities, offering a unique and uplifting cultural experience that celebrated local heritage and creativity.

Chatteris Quilters

Chatteris Quilters runs every second and fourth Tuesday of the month. The group evolved from the positive response to quilting workshops held in Chatteris during the Autumn. These workshops were introduced based on feedback received from the community during the Chatteris Midsummer Festival in June 2023.

So far, the six sessions have been led by facilitators Susie Batchelor, Karin Forman, and Marian Savill. Each facilitator brought a unique perspective on textiles, inspiring the group to explore new ways of using them. The group has made pin cushions using English paper piecing, recycled fabric beads, patchworked postcards and sewing books. The group was also invited to bring along their own projects to work on.  

As the sessions are drop-in, and each week has a different activity, it doesn’t matter if you miss one. You can just slip back into the group with no worries of catching up!

If you’d like to join Chatteris Quilters, come along to our next series on Tuesday 9 & 23 January, Tuesday 13 & 27 February, and Tuesday 12 & 26 March 2024. Each runs from 2-4pm with refreshments provided.

Contact us for further information

Chatteris Midsummer Festival

This year’s Chatteris Midsummer Festival was a fabulous hot weekend of parades, stalls, exhibitions and performances from wonderful local groups and organisations. MarketPlace was invited by the Town Council to provide a range of free activities to correspond with this year’s theme – Roaring Twenties. 

We co-created a 1920’s photo booth with local photography group F-stop Camera Club, where people could dress up and have their photo taken against a beautiful 1920’s inspired backdrop. We were able to print the photos for people to take home with them or send them via email after the event. 

Some local knitters and crocheters also joined the tent, providing a taster into how to knit and crochet, while our Programme Director Susie showed people how to quilt a hexagonal brooch. We also handed out some beginner crochet kits. Artist Karen Forman put together activities for all the family, supporting people to create 1920’s flapper headbands and Art Deco suncatchers. 

We were asked to be one of the judges for the parade alongside Katherine from 20Twenty Productions. Prizes were awarded for best dressed adult group, best dressed children’s group and best individual along with other categories. The community groups put the costumes together themselves and all made such a wonderful effort.

The MarketPlace tent was buzzing all day. Members of the public were already keen to hear about our involvement next year and discussed setting up their own quilting groups.  Smiles and laughter were all around at this year’s fair – we can’t wait for the next one!