Student creativity shone brightly at Lantern Festival

First year BA (Hons) Design for Theatre & Screen students shone brightly at Farnham’s biggest ever Lantern Festival, where they displayed their handmade lanterns.

11 November 2026

Student with unicorn lantern at Farnham Lantern Festival. Photo by Farnham Town Council © Natalia Sharomova

Farnham’s third Lantern Festival brought October Craft Month to a close, drawing more than 2,000 people for a spectacular celebration of creativity and community spirit.

Councillor Kika Mirylees, Lead Member for Culture, told the Farnham Herald: “Farnham Lantern Festival was a fantastic celebration of everything that makes Farnham such a special place.

“It was wonderful to see so many people of all ages getting involved, sharing their creativity and coming together as a community.”

Farnham Lantern Festival. Photo by Farnham Town Council © Natalia Sharomova

Handcrafted lanterns illuminated the town centre as the procession, led by the Mayor and Mayoress of Farnham alongside the Town Crier, travelled towards St Andrew’s Church where they were put on display.

Designs by first-year students included a Christmas Tree, a Halloween-themed heart, stars, and a unicorn, and many had not made a lantern before, so they learned new skills and overcame challenges such as working with fragile materials like tissue paper.

A trio of students who designed the Unicorn explained: “We wanted something more challenging and childlike to make it more creative, and added pink tissue paper for a pop of colour instead of painting on the paper. Finally, we added lights.”

To learn more about studying BA (Hons) Design for Theatre & Screen, visit the UCA course pages.