Locals are busy gathering their sticks, rope and tissue paper so they can devote countless hours, blood, sweat and tears to creating one-of-a-kind kites.

To help locals with their kite-making projects, recruited well known kite guru Al Seymour Jr. to share his expertise and vast knowledge on kite making with the public.

It?s that time of year again when we bring out the glue, tissue paper, sticks and good ol? brown string, combined with lots of patience, the wonderful aroma of hot cross buns baking in the oven and cod-fish cakes frying on the stove.

It seems that the older we get, the faster each holiday blurs into the next.

Easter is determined by the closest full moon to the Spring solstice. I think I still have bits of confetti in my hair from New Year?s Eve!

As a youngster, I remember the anticipation of Good Friday at our house (it was a lot like Christmas, but with more outside activity). No other sound in the world compared with the afternoon drone of kites on a ?good weather? Good Friday.

How many of us remember the kite-safety books we got at school which were sponsored by Belco and featured the character, ?Reddy Kilowatt?? The book had many kite-safety tips along with plans for several kinds of kites and gave detailed instructions for making a ?Malay? or a ?Cross? kite.

In honour of ?Reddy Kilowatt?, here are some tried and true kite flying survival tips.

Never fly a kite in wet or stormy weather.

Never attempt to climb trees or utility poles to rescue kites.

Avoid the use of any metallic material in kite making. The Bermuda kite does use a nail in its construction, however, it is small and is protected by the sticks.

Watch-out for the thin nylon twine that comes with many of the plastic kites on the market today. This twine can easily cut or burn hands, particularly those of young children.

Dual-string stunt kites can reach high speeds and may be extremely dangerous in inexperienced hands.

Many on the exotic kites on the market require a moderate to strong breeze to get and keep aloft (eg. the ?snowflake?).

These kites require some detailed assembly and should only be used by experience kite flyers. When in doubt, stick to simple designs for maximum kite-flying fun!