Carnival 200?
For reasons that were very much beyond our control, the small group which has organised the Newbury Carnival for the past two years have been unable to do so in 2008.
We are very keen to put the Carnival on a firmer footing for the future. So we are holding a public meeting at Newbury Town Hall on Wednesday 14th May, 7.30pm to discuss the future of the event. If you're interested in the future of Newbury Carnival we would love to see you there!
If you are planning to come please could you email us via newburycarnival@googlemail.com as it will help us to plan the refreshments!
In the meantime material from last year's home page, including links to photographs of the event, appears below.
Welcome to the Newbury Carnival 2007 website!
We'd like to say an enormous thank-you to everyone who took part in, supported and came along to watch this year's Newbury Carnival. We hope that you enjoyed the day as much as we did!
We're building-up an online gallery of photos which you can visit by cllicking on the scrolling pictures above or here. 12th July update - we've now added an album of photos by our official photographer, David Hatfull of Diem Photgraphy Either view the photos in the window below or click here.
If you have any photos of the Carnival you'd like us to add to our gallery, please email them to us via the address given on our contacts page.
Kick FM have published a list of prizewinners here - this page also includes a link to lots of photos they took on the day. The Newbury Weekly News website's gallery page has more pictures - click here to visit it and dont' forget to buy this week's newspaper for lots more coverage.
(There are yet more carnival photos - covering both this and last year - at the online photo sharing service Flickr)
Carnival 2007 Updates
1st July 2007: Today's the day! The BBC forecast is for sunshine and showers from 10.00am onwards so let's hope for more of the former and less of the latter! Good luck to everyone else running events in Newbury today.
28th June 2007: Those very nice people at Kick FM are great supporters of Newbury Carnival and we're very grateful for all their efforts. Their broadcast on Sunday will be from 10am through until 4pm, live from Victoria Park, presented by James O'Neill, Andy Green and Phil Spray. They will also be live from the parade ro
ute before and during the Parade.During the morning there’s the latest weather, details of road closures in town, and they’ll be speaking to many people making last minute preparations for their entries, and some of the people who have made the carnival happen this year – plus playing plenty of great songs to get everyone in the mood for the Carnival!
From 3pm, Kick will also be hosting the entertainment in Victoria Park at the Kick FM Soundstage, including the presentations from 4pm.
Click on the Kick logo to visit the Newbury Carnival page at their website.
28th June 2007: All
this week the Carnival's Met Team have been gazing at their SBFT
(seaweed-based forecasting technology - see picture), trying
to figure out what the weather might do on the day. They are
currently saying there might be the odd shower, but they need to find
out whether any local cows are sitting down before they can confirm
this. Rest assured that the show will go on whatever the
weather!
If there is the odd spot of rain, an umbrella and some
wellies
will keep you dry and the participants in the parade will be doubly
delighted to see you lining the streets!
23rd June 2007: Just one week tomorrow the Carnival Launch Controllers will reach the final phase of the count-down. Some 23,428 tasks still need to be completed before they can press their BRB (Big Red Button) to launch the carnival parade, but they took time off a moment ago to celebrate our 50th entry! And there's still time for you to join in!
20th June 2007: Put together this
year's theme and
a school lacrosse team and what do you get?
There's only one answer, of
course!
We're delighted that the St Bart's Lacrosse touring team will
be
joining the parade on 1st July. They'll be shaking buckets to raise
funds for a tour to Canada. If you're a current or former St
Bart's student, member of staff or parent, be sure to come along on the
day to support them. Our picture shows what is believed to be
the
team psyching
themselves up for a recent match against Cheltenham Ladies'
College. 
19th June 2007: A
carnival involves much more than a parade and there are all sorts of
good things lined up for 1st July. One of the highlights is
bound
to be street entertainers The Grand Theatre of Lemmings
(see picture and website here)
whose apperance on Carnival Day has been very kindly sponsored by
Kennet Shopping.
The Lemmings will be performing outside Kennet
Shopping, in Bartholomew Street, from 1.30pm (before the parade starts
at 2.00pm), joining in with the parade and then taking part in the fun
and games in
Victoria Park. We'll be publishing a full programme for the
day
here very soon, so be sure to visit us again!15th June 2007: Since we posted that last news item, we've
received thousands
of emails including one from a Mrs Trellis of North Wales, who will be
familiar to listeners of Radio 4's popular panel game 'I'm Sorry I
Haven't A Clue'. She says 'Dear Nuneaton Carnival, I was very
interested to hear about your VUNCCC' (see below) 'would it
be at
all possible to see a picture of it?" As you can see, it
certainly would Mrs T. 15th June 2007: Woo hoo! Much rejoicing here at Carnival 2007 as today we've
smashed through the NOERLY barrier (that's the 'Number of Entries
Received Last Year' barrier, for the few of you who aren't up on
carnival jargon) with 4 new entries arriving at once!
One of
them, we're delighted to say is from Newbury Buses. We'll be
updating our parade entries page later on, but for now the CCs
(Carnival Controllers) have left their control desks and are dancing in
a conga around the VUNCCC (Vast Underground Newbury Carnival Control
Centre) deep below Greenham Common. Normal service will be
restored shortly as the CCs return to completing the literally
thousands of activities which need to be finished before C Day
(Carnival Day) a mere 16 days from now. 6th June 2007: Entries are still rolling in to Carnival HQ (if emails can be said to roll, that is). We received two more today and we know that others are on the way. The original version of our entry form said that the closing date for entries would be 1st June, but we've extended that to Monday 25th June so there's still time to join in!
30th May 2007:
Our latest Carnival poster
will shortly
be appearing all over the town, but you can download your very own
Adobe Acrobat copy right now by clicking on the picture to the right.
(Be sure to follow the instructions in our 21st February news item to play your part in ensuring that this year's carnival is the best ever,)
The poster features a photograph of a costume made by former St Gabriel's school student Jade Fish as part of her A Level course work. Remember that individual entrants are just as welcome as those from families, clubs, companies, schools and other groups. Jade won a £100 prize for her costume, but even if you don't walk away with one of our cheques you'll have great fun on the day so why not join the big parade!
29th May 2007: Parade entries are arriving on an almost daily basis now. It's great to see the imagination and creativity that is being applied to our 'Celebrating Stage and Screen' theme. For example, Newury College spotted that entering the parade would be a great way of promoting their 'Pirates' show which is being performed in the Market Place on the evening of the carnival. Another excellent idea is Newbury cycling organisation Spokes' entry: ET. Clever, eh?
Incidentally, glancing through the list we have lots of different organisations involved but - so far - none of Newbury's big firms have entered. Now's your chance folks: think of it as a team-building exercise which a. doesn't cost anything b. is great fun and c. could win you and your colleagues one of our glittering cash prizes!
26th May 2007: Regular visitors will notice that we've made a few changes to the website, including a new page which lists all the entries for this year's parade. There's still plenty of time to enter so if you'd like to join the fun click on the 'How to enter' tab where you'll find details and a downloadable entry form.
23rd May 2007: We're delighted that Sovereign Housing Association has joined the local organisations supporting this year’s Newbury Carnival. Spokesman for the Bartholomew Street based social landlord, Steve Murphy, said: “We’re always keen to help boost community spirit, so it’s a great pleasure to support the carnival again especially in our home town.
“We’re already encouraging resident groups on the edge of Newbury to enter a float, and staff are keeping their fingers crossed for some fine weather on the day.” Steve is pictured with Newbury Carnival Commitee Chairman, Bryan Harper.
3rd May 2007: We are delighted to announce that 14-21 Time to Talk is Newbur
y
Carnival's nominated charity this year. 14-21 Time to Talk
provide an invaluable counselling service for youg people in Newbury -
you can find out more about them by clicking on the nominated charity
tab above where you'll also find a link to their website.25 April 2007: As part of their celebration and commemoration of Veteran’s Week - which include a 40s/50s style dance, a sing-along and other events - the Royal British Legion are attending a service at St Nicholas Church on the day of this year’s Newbury Carnival. They’ll be leaving the church at 1.15pm and marching to the British Legion Hall, so make sure you turn up early for this year’s Carnival parade to give them a well earned cheer. The parade itself starts at 2.00pm and as usual there will also be street entertainers in Northbook Street and Bartholomew Street for you to enjoy.
18th April 2007: No carnival can be complete without a Carnival Queen, and we're delighted that our Official Radio Station - Kick FM - are pulling out all the stops to help us identify
candidates for
this year's Queen (for the
day) of Newbury. In addition to participating in the parade,
the
Carnival Queen will help present prizes for the best Carnival entries.
Two runners up in the contest will become the Queen's
attendants.
Click
here to visit the Kick FM website
where you can find out more and download an entry form.
Entry
closes on Friday 1st June. Please note that Newbury Carnival
is,
of course, an equal opportunities carnival.7th April 2007: The latest Carnival parade entry has a suitably chotlatey theme for this Easter weekend: the Winchcome Schools are planning an entry entitled 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory'. Sounds good enough to eat and an excellent choice for a float.
We'll shortly be publishing a list of all the entries to date, partly so that if you are wondering what to choose for your entry theme you can see what is already planned.
2nd April 2007: When you think of great British film stars, what are the first names that spring to mind? Connery? Dench? Olivier? Caine? Mirren? There are so many to choose from, but few people would disagree that two of our greatest actors have swept all before them in recent years. Yes, with films like 'The Curse of the Were Rabbit' and 'Chicken Run' behind them, Wallace and Gromit are firmly at the top the league so we're particularly delighted that they'll be joining us for this year's parade!
Look out for the two megastars raising funds for YHA Breaks 4 Kids, a charity which provides grants for disadvantaged children to take part in school trips away from home in YHA accommodation. FOr more details about the charity, click here. To visit Wallace and Gromit's very own online prescence click here.
18th March 2007: There's now a grand total of 18 entrants for the parade, including an entry from Newbury Town Council. They won first prize in the business category last year and, while we don't want to give too much away, apparently this year's entry will bring back memories of Sid James, Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams. What a carry on, eh?
17th March 2007: A big thank you to Newbury Tourist Information Centre on the Wharf for the Carnival display they've had in their shop window for the past couple of weeks. Don't forget that you can get entry forms from the TIC, which is just over the road from Newbury Library, as well as downloading them from this website. (They will continue to offer entry forms and general Carnival information after the display ends, so do drop in.)
4th March 2007: They’re back again – following a huge response last year, we’re pleased to say that the Harley Owners’ Group from Oxford will be back once again in Newbury on 1st July to lead the Carnival parade. Anyone who saw the sight (and heard the noise) of all those Harley Davidson bikes coming over the bridge into Northbrook Street couldn’t have failed to be impressed. If you missed it last year, put the date in your diary NOW. You’ll want to be here this time.
And on the subject of impressive means of transport, we’re doubly pleased because the Thames Valley Ferrari Owners’ Club will be a part of the parade again this year. Just in case you don’t know what a Ferrari looks like, check out their website by clicking here and find out about this year’s Ferrari Funday. But see them at the Carnival first for a tempting taster
21st February 2007: Here's a very simple way to
help make this year's
Newbury Carnival a big success. 1. Click here to download a copy of our first Carnival 2007 poster. It's an Adobe PDF file, if you don't have the Adobe Acrobat reader you'll need to open it, click here.
2. Print it, preferably in colour.
3. Pin copies to notice boards in your work place or similar.
4. When you see someone looking at the poster, say 'Hey, wouldn't it be great if we entered the carnival!'
5. Sit down and plan your entry - anything from one person in fancy dress through to a decorated float.
6. Sit back and picture being part of the big parade, promoting your organisation, having fun, bringing smiles to the faces of thousands of spectators, and maybe even winning one of the prizes we'll be announcing shortly - all for free!
13th February 2007: We're up to 13 confirmed entries for the parade now, which is 13 more than we had this time last year! A number of organisations - including one of our major local employers - have enquired about entering so get those entry forms in asap if you want to be sure of a place!
Have you tried our new interactive map of the route yet? See the 'My Maps' link in the right hand column.
25th January 2007: Our theme for this year is 'Celebrating
Stage and
Screen' which provides lots of scope for imaginative
entries. Whether you want to come dressed as your favourite
film
star (individual entries are very welcome) or as a group (either on a
float or as a walking entry) we're sure you'll find something to
celebrate from film, the theatre or TV. So let your imagination let rip. You've got a stage that goes right through the centre of Newbury on which to perform, an audience of thousands and - above all - the chance to have a lot of fun. And don't forget - if you want to promote your club, community group, school or business Newbury Carnival is a brilliant low-cost way of doing so. Plus you can help us raise money for a good cause. A triple, if not quadruple, whammy!
What's more, we've received eight entries already!
3rd January 2007: Regular visitors will have noticed a subtle change to our website. Yes, it's that time of year when all our thoughts turn to - well, anything except the fact that it's cold, dark and still January and what better than the prospect of a sunny Sunday afternoon in July to warm us all up? This year's carnival will be on Sunday 1st July, 2007 so we recommend that you block out the day in your diary right now!
We've produced a poster showing some of the faces of last year's carnival. If you'd like to download a copy, click here (it's a 6 megabyte Adobe Acrobat file).
To view the build up to last year's carnival click here to visit a copy of this home page for the 2006 carnival.
