Leeds West Indian Carnival: Police uniform twist on costume designs

The Leeds West Indian Carnival has often attracted crowds in excess of 150,000 people

Young people taking part in a famous street carnival have teamed up with police to create costumes inspired by the force.

Leeds West Indian Carnival has been held in Chapeltown and Harehills since 1967 - apart from in 2020 and 2021.

It was established as a remedy for homesickness for those who migrated from the Caribbean.

This year Bridge Project members have worked on costumes for the 28 August parade with a twist on police uniforms.

Young people from the Bridge Project in Leeds have worked with police officers to reimagine police uniforms

A group made up of 12 to 18-year-olds from east Leeds have designed their own costumes for the parade, inspired by West Yorkshire Police, as a way of examining the role police take in the community.

Chijioke Ojukwu, from the Leeds-based Bridge Project, said: "We have young people who in many ways are imagining what it means to be a police officer by designing a costume.

"Part of that has meant them thinking carefully about police powers what the police do on the streets and what the police should do by law."

The 2019 Leeds carnival involved 2,000 dancers with 50,000 feathers, 20,000 sequins and 5,000 metres of costume material

Group member Amelia, 13, said she was designing a police hat which would "be better than what they have now and asking what they think would look cool".

"We took a current police hat and put a siren on top and also changed the colours," she said.

PC Tim Rawson said meeting young people from the project had meant the force was able to "put a face to policing"

Kelly, an 18-year-old group member, said: "I really care about the police and the community and I'm really interested in costumes as well.

"I was thinking to stick with black, but to also add some red, because the normal uniform has a bit of yellow and green as well."

Young people taking part in the project were able to "imagine what it would be like to be a police officer", organiser Chijioke Ojukwu said

Meanwhile Olivia, 14, said she wanted to make something "vibrant that stands out, but which is also different".

PC Tim Rawson, a police officer covering Gipton and Harehills, said the costume project was about "breaking down barriers" in order to "better understand the issues young people faced".

He said he had talked with the group about "patterns and colours and my uniform, how it's made and what it's made out of".

"We've gone into the designs as well as some of the colours from police uniform blues and greens and blended that with some of the more traditional patterns," he said.

"I'm looking forward to the outcome," he added.