Destined members get into the spooky spirit ahead of this year’s Halloween Carnival Parade
13 October 2023
Halloween preparations are well underway at Destined as members came together to create spooktacular accessories and props for their part in this year’s parade.
The Derry Halloween celebrations come to a breathtaking close on Halloween night with the world-renowned Carnival Parade. Hundreds of members of community groups, organisations and schools come together to create an electric performance that dances its way through the city centre on all Hallow’s Eve.
Like many years before, Destined, based on the Foyle Road, are taking part in this year’s parade and have been working hard creating accessories and props for their costumes. Two workshops, facilitated by the North West Carnival Initiative, took place earlier this month to help get everyone in the spooky spirit.
Community spirit remains at the heart of Derry’s world-class festivities with hundreds of local performers from right across the city and district. Organised by the North West Carnival Initiative, the Carnival Parade brings the four-day programme of events to a thrilling close.
Charlene Keenan, Manager at Destined, said the group were delighted to be a part of this year’s carnival parade as it’s something they really look forward to every year.
“We’re all really excited for Halloween this year and are looking forward to being a part of the famous carnival parade. We work with a wide range of age groups here at Destined, from people in their late teens right through to people is their 70’s and Derry Halloween is the only event that really brings everyone together, we really love being included in it all.”
The North West Carnival Initiative visited Destined at the beginning of October to work with members and help create props for their costumes. Charlene went on to explain how much the group enjoyed the workshops, as it was really important for the participants to feel involved in the parade before it takes place. She went on to praise the diversity of the parade and looked forward to working with everyone on the night.
“The Derry Halloween parade really does include a huge range of diverse groups and organisations and that’s why we love it. At Destined, we firmly believe that while our users may have learning disabilities, they should still be offered the same opportunities and rights as anyone else. They may need a little extra support, but we love that they are still involved in these world-class festivities.
“We are all really looking forward to the parade. We’ll probably meet here before and get our make-up and costumes sorted before we make our way down. There is always a great buzz beforehand and we’re all really excited for this year’s event.”
Destined has an overall aim of integrating people with Learning Disabilities into their local communities. They host a range of programmes to achieve this with a strong focus on supporting families, education, social, arts, women, health, fitness and personal development.
Destined will join some of the North West’s finest performers to bring the story of Derry Halloween to life with fearsome displays of magic and mayhem.
The Derry Halloween parade will take place at 7pm on Tuesday 31st October. Following the parade, the City of Drones will kick off at 8:15pm with the firework finale at 8:30pm.
Derry Halloween is supported by Derry City and Strabane District Council, Tourism N. Ireland, BT and the Executive Office.
For more information on the Derry Halloween Parade or to download the full programme of events, please visit www.derryhalloween.com