CUMBRIA’S High Sheriff has paid a visit to a Penrith puppet theatre to see a performance of Stanelli’s Super Circus.

Marcia Reid Fotheringham went to Upfront Puppet theatre on Monday, and toured the venues gallery spaces, costume workshops and scenery building workshops, before seeing the circus with a finale of a lion and tiger leaping through fire.

Marcia also met the residents of Croft Avenue Care Home, Penrith, who enjoyed the show and were treated to tea and cakes afterwards.

The High Sheriff laughed out loud at the performance and said that the project was unique in the way it used a traditional art form to bring different generations together to have fun.

The collection of circus marionettes was saved for Cumbria by a Heritage Lottery grant and was carved and created with love by Stan Parker from Carlisle.

The Circus in Care Homes project aims to train young people not in education, training or employment to be able to perform the marionette circus and to visit care homes to perform it.

The project also trains the young people in how to chat with older people and to encourage them to talk about past memories and experiences. Upfront are keen to hear about any young people who might be interested in the project that fit the project remit and would like to participate.

Upfront Puppet theatre is an arts charity which was established to promote the art forms of mask, puppetry and mime.

The venue is one of only four in England and is unique in having two moving puppeteers bridges for marionette operation, as well as a puppeteers pit for the operation of rod puppets

As well as having its own unique venue, which creates its own shows in house the company has a youth theatre project, focussed on puppetry. It also carries out mask and puppet making and performance workshops in many local schools.

This summer’s production at the puppet theatre will be Aladdin which runs from July 21 to September 1.