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 section is a work in progress and will be updated as more becomes clearer and more decisions are made - please keep coming back as we get closer to the date.

What is it?

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. 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.

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. 

Schedule of monthly meetings

These are the regular monthly meeting dates for 2025.

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

Thursday 13 February - Shildon Railway Institute - Main Hall - 6:30pm start

Thursday 12 March - Shildon Railway Institute - Main Hall - 6:30pm start

Thursday 10 April - Shildon Railway Institute - Main Hall - 6:30pm start

Thursday 8 May - Shildon Railway Institute - Main Hall - 6:30pm start

Thursday 12 June - Shildon Railway Institute - Main Hall - 6:30pm start

Thursday 10 July - Shildon Railway Institute - Main Hall - 6:30pm start

Thursday 14 August Post-Event De-briefing - Shildon Railway Institute - Main Hall - 6:30pm start

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