24/09/08 Dragon Parade set to fire up Wood Fair

Every year the South Yorkshire Wood Fair marks the end of summer with a dramatic fiery finale. Over the last two years visitors to the Endcliffe Park event have witnessed the burning of a massive Green Man sculpture, the Queen of the Forest's autumn palace and a troop of dancing fire foxes. This year the South Yorkshire Forest Partnership has commissioned Ecclesall Wood based fire sculptors, Scot Fletcher and Graeme Ritchie from Handspring Design, to invoke the mythical Porter Valley Leaf Dragon in her full pyrotechnic glory?

A legend of the South Yorkshire Forest, the Leaf Dragon is said to leave her lair deep in the Porter Valley only when the ground is too wet for her precious eggs to hatch. After two sodden summers that time has come and the Leaf Dragon will appear at Endcliffe Park at dusk on October 4th to dry the valley out with a display of her fabulous autumn flames. Local school children from Hunter Bar Juniors and Greystones Primary are making dragon masks for a special parade in her honour.

Scot Fletcher said: "We're delighted to have been asked to create a fire sculpture for Wood Fair for the third year running. I don't want to give too much away, but we've finalised the design and pyrotechnic effects and think that the sculpture will cause even more of a stir around Hunters Bar as our gigantic Green Man, and be even prettier than last year's Forest Palace! Fire really seems to get people excited; the highlight for us when we make fire structures at this scale is the reaction of the children - which is positively primeval!"

The parade and flaming finale will be the icing on the cake for Wood Fair which promises to be a fantastic, activity-filled day out for the whole family. Organised by the South Yorkshire Forest Partnership and Sheffield City Council Parks & Countryside, the event will transform Endcliffe Park into a woodland wonderland as artists and craftspeople, foresters and furniture makers show off their skills and demonstrate equipment ranging from a homemade foot-powered lathe to massive logging and chipping machines. A range of wood-related art, craft and nature activities will also be free to try, while in the arena chainsaw sculptors will provide nail biting action as they carve against the clock.

South Yorkshire Wood Fair takes place 11- 7pm, Saturday October 4th, Endcliffe Park, Sheffield.

For more information visit www.syforest.co.uk or call 0114 2571199

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