Shildon's 2025 S&DR Celebratory Street Parade.

This is the place to find out everything you need to know about Shildon's 'Little Street Cavalcade' which we hope will be held on Saturday 2nd August 2025 as part of our town's S&DR Bicentenary Celebrations.

Please note: This page is constantly evolving and will be updated more and more as we get closer to the parade - please keep coming back as we get closer to the date.

Registration is NOW OPEN for taking part in the parade - let us know you're all aboard!

To help us plan the parade we're asking the groups taking part to register - so we know what folk are planning to do and can use this information to help plan a great event. Click here or on the graphic below to access the online registration form.

What is Shildon's "Little Street Cavalcade"?

Put in simplest terms, it's a street carnival parade in which we hope as many of us from across the town as possible, young and old, community groups and businesses, will participate. We want it to show off the best of Shildon. This short video that we created to see if there was support sets out why we thought this would be a celebration we could own ourselves.

Who is taking part?

There are lots of groups we've spoken to that are yet to register (as we've just opened for registration), but so far we've confirmed the following:

• Aycliffe & Brancepeth Brass Band
• Royal British Legion Shildon Branch
• Shildon Railway Institute

We'll add to the list as the registrations come in, so you can see that you are in good company on parade day.

Our Parade Organising Committee's Constitution:

The parade organising committee are a collective from groups across Shildon at the surrounding area. This committee has the additional organisational and administrative backing of officers from Shildon Town Council.

On Thursday January 9th 2025 all present at the Organising Committee Meeting agreed to adopt a 'Constitution' setting out the terms under which the Committee is convened and will operate.

You can read that constitution HERE

When are the Community Parade Meetings?

Schedule of monthly meetings:

These are the regular monthly meeting dates for 2025.

Thursday 9 January - Shildon Railway Institute - Main Hall - 6:30pm start (passed)

Thursday 13 February - Shildon Civic Hall - Main Hall - 6:30pm start (passed)

Thursday 13 March - Shildon Civic Hall - 6:30pm start

Thursday 10 April - (venue TBC) - 6:30pm start

Thursday 8 May - (venue TBC) - Main Hall - 6:30pm start

Thursday 12 June - (venue TBC) - 6:30pm start

Thursday 10 July - (venue TBC) - 6:30pm start

Thursday 14 August Post-Event De-briefing - (venue TBC) - 6:30pm start

NB: special meetings may be arranged by necessity on other dates throughout this period.

What could we do? - If you're looking for inspiration....

There are so many ways you can take part - but it's important to know that it's a 'people-powered' parade so if you plan to build something it needs to be something you can push, pull or carry.

Naturally we'd love to see railway themed things BUT this is YOUR parade so if you want to show off something different then who are we to argue.

If you're excited to take part, but not sure what you can do we hope that some of these videos might inspire you. If you see something interesting yourselves let us know and we'll share it here.

GO PEDAL POWERED! Like some of these bicycle based kinetic floats in the USA.

GO PUPPET POWERED! Do something like these giant parade puppets.

OR PUT ON YOUR BEST GLAD RAGS! If you really don't fancy making something then get funky with clothes.

Frequently asked questions:

We have curated some initial questions that you may have about Shildon's 'Little Street Cavalcade' but please feel free to ask us questions by emailing them to sdr200@shildonrailway.institute.

Why are you proposing a Little Street Cavalcade parade?

Good question. There is a main S&DR 200 festival that has organised other events in Stockton, Darlington and across County Durham, but there is also an S&DR200 Fringe that comprises celebrations that communities can organise themselves. We feel that the main festival missed an opportunity to showcase Shildon's people, many of whom are descended from the people that made the Stockton and Darlington Railway and subsequent railway companies so great, so we wanted to organise something extra-special with you all to recognise that. We know that people over 50 look back fondly at the parade in 1975 so wanted to recapture that spirit.

Who is organising the Little Street Cavalcade parade?

The Little Street Cavalcade is being organised by a special temporary steering committee made up from individuals that want to champion their town, and representatives of different community groups from across the town and its surrounding villages. That committee now meets monthly to share ideas, agree actions and determine how to promote the parade.

Is this a Railway Institute project?

No - but the Railway Institute have kindly allowed us to use part of their website to promote information about the Little Street Cavalcade parade. 

Is this a Town Council project?

No, though the idea was first suggested by Kelly Ambrosini and Dave Reynolds, who are currently Town Councillors, but are also heavily involved in other community organisations. Now the idea belongs to the wider steering committee or representatives from many different groups, businesses and individuals and to you. However the Town Council have kindly agreed at a meeting to support the venture, which is absolutely necessary as, just as on Remembrance Sunday, there will need to be a road closure and other logistical considerations requiring local authority participation. Town Council officers will support the venture all the way.

Why is this happening on Saturday 2 August not the anniversary date in September?

The actual anniversary date of 27 September is going to be a very busy day for the official celebrations. Not everything can happen at once. the beginning of August should bring good weather (though it's not guaranteed) and it is also the day on which the Town Council are also holding a special railway bicentenary fun-day in Hackworth Park - so it made sense for the parade to be held on the same day and lead to the park.

How do you know the folk of Shildon want a street parade for 2025?

This is a fair question, and we didn't know at first. There are around 10,000 of you in the town, not counting surrounding villages, and it would be very hard to visit to ask you all individually. But we tried to engage as many of you as possible. We created the short video and a survey and tried to promote it as much as possible in the short time we had before it would be too late to start. Details were printed several times in the Town Crier and circulated on social media. Only 135 people took time to respond but of those 97% were in favour and only 3% did not like the idea. This seemed a good indicator that the idea has merit.

What will be in the parade?

A lot of that will be up to you. This won't be something that works with us all just sitting back. Like we did in 1975 we all need to get involved and show off the best of what Shildon has to offer. We'd really love to see 'little locomotives' and 'banners' and 'flags' depicting what Shildon has to offer - but we know that won't interest everyone, or be something that everyone can do. So just like happened in the past - use your imaginations and let your creativity go wild. Lets make sure we're all represented in there - youth groups, military veterans, scouts, churches, bands, drama groups, knitters - everyone - the whole lot of us.

How are we going to pay for things we'd need to take part?

Well it doesn't need to cost a lot to take part - you can make costumes or push-floats from things we'd normally consider junk with a little bit of thought and time. Or just demonstrate what you do with things you have an usually use anyway. But of you do want to take things to a more ambitious level, say paint or embroider a special flag or banner, or build a little locomotive, then there will be some small grants available that we and others can make easy for groups to apply for. We'll announce more on that when more has been decided.

What do I need to do if I, or my group, or business want to take part?

We're probably going to need to register who intends to take part, mainly so that we can organise it all into a parade order that makes sense and will be entertaining. So stay tuned for details on how to register - but in the meantime anyone can attend any of the monthly meetings and we'll make time at the end for you to ask questions and discuss your ideas.