Carnival Season is Almost Upon Us

Jungle Drums by Gremlins Carnival Club in portrait format. Winner of the Feature class and overall winner at the 2011 Glastonbury Chilkwell Guy Fawkes Carnival.

Jungle Drums by Gremlins Carnival Club at the 2011 Glastonbury Chilkwell Guy Fawkes Carnival.

When everyone thinks of the carnival, they inevitably think of Rio or Notting Hill. However, in the Southwest of England, we do things a little differently. Many towns in the Southwest hold a carnival and many more used to, until Health and Safety regulations made the cost prohibitive. There are a number of different circuits, where a group of towns hold overall competitions and the biggest of those is the Somerset County Circuit, which includes a number of towns in central and northern Somerset. Theere are six carnivals in the circuit, all of which can be entered, no matter where you live and in fact, there have been entries from as far away as Rio de Janeiro. The difference between the carnivals in the Southwest and the likes of Rio and Notting Hill is dramatic. The mainstay of carnivals in this neck of the woods, is the illuminated cart or float, although there are also much more modest entrants, each with their own class. It is nominally a competition, but one of the biggest aims of the carnivals is to collect money for local charities.

_F1A6588Many of the entrants are individuals, but there are also a large number of entrants from carnival clubs, many of which have been around for several years and spend large sums of money every year. In fact many of the best entries each year, started from an idea initiated just weeks after the dust had settled from the previous year. They also light up the sky for miles around and result in many road closures, to enable the events to take place. Crowds number into the tens of thousands fo some of the events, with the largest crowds usually appearing at the Bridgwater carnival, often called the home of carnival. There is also an association with Guy Fawkes, one of the members of the catholic group, set to blow up the Houses of Parliament and the Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival is closed with “Squibbing”. This is a line of participants, who hold large fireworks called squibs at arms length, before lighting them. While it is a spectacular sight, it isn’t the place to wear your ball gown or Sunday Best, as sparks can fly.

So if you happen to be in the area around the beginning to middle of November, then why not pay one of the carnivals a visit. With a choice of six around North Petherton, Bridgwater, Burnham on Sea, Glastonbury, Weston Super Mare and Wells, there are a few places to choose from. Bridgwater tends to have the biggest crowds and the most entrants, but the main clubs enter all of the carnivals, then you can say that you’ve been to the largest illuminated carnival in the world.

Bridgwater Carnival 2012

Saturday night was carnival night. For the first year, Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival was held on a Saturday, to try to increase the amount of money collected for local charities. For those who don’t know, the carnival procession is held in the evening and is considered to be the largest illuminated carnival in the world and in fact only Notting Hill in London and Mardi Gras in Rio de Janeiro are probably bigger. The reasons for the procession are two fold, local heritage and culture (not to mention entertainment) and to raise money for charities.

Last year, the carnival was beset by drama and tragedy, with the collapse of the wall by the river and the later serious accident on the M5 near Taunton. Following the accident, carnival-goers held a mass minute’s silence the next day, during the traditional “Black Sunday” celebrations and a significant amount of money was raised by the various clubs. This was recognised by the emergency services during this year’s procession, thanking all the clubs for their help.

The entrants were as spectacular as usual, although I felt that there was a reduction in originality, with a number of entrants having very similar themes to recent years and even some with the exactly the same name during the procession, for example two or three clubs named their entrants “Circus”. One of my favourites was “Be our Guest”, by Wick Carnival Club. It wasn’t as spectacular as some of the big clubs, but they have improved noticeably in the few years I have been watching, plus it was one of the more original ideas. Sometimes I think originality should be rewarded as much as the amount of money that is obviously put into making many of the carts. I also find the entries from Huckyduck and Pentathlon to be quite interesting, but I was slightly disappointed by Huckyduck’s entry this year at the time, although looking at the photos, I like it better. It certainly wasn’t in the same class as their “Spirit of the Blitz” entry a couple of years ago, but was still good.

In what has almost become a tradition in the past decade, Gremlins yet again were the winners, with their entry Revolution. They seem to have a much bigger budget, with so many members, when compared to many other clubs and their cart is always a mass of moving parts.

All in all Bridgwater Carnival 2012 was a success and passed without the major incidents of last year. I think holding it on the Saturday was an improvement, although only the news of how much collected will confrm that.

Bridgwater Carnival 2011 Photographs now on Website

Bridgwater Carnival night will be memorable for a number of reasons, not all of them good. It all started in the afternoon, during the afternoon entertainment by Bridgwater College. When I describe what we had as a downpour, it is a definite understatement. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen rain heavier in Britain. To make matters worse, the lack of wind, meant that the extremely heavy showers didn’t move very fast. There was a fast flowing river of water down past the Cornhill and on towards the Parrett, down the pedestrianised area, which was up to two inches deep in places. Everyone was saturated, but unbeknown at the time, similar amounts of water must have been flowing down Castle Street, which caused a partial collapse of the wall along the river, with part of the road in behind disappearing into the depths below. However, as is said in showbiz, the show must go on and it did. Sadly the news got worse though, but it didn’t come to light until the end of the carnival, except by the emergency services. A little over ten miles away, just outside Taunton, one of the worst pile-ups in British history occured on the M5, causing seven fatalities and numerous serious injuries. All condolences and sympathies must rest with the victims and their families.

The carnival itself put on its usual show of bright lights and entertainment. While I don’t think it lived up to last year’s standards, it still provided plenty of entertainment and better still, it remained dry throughout, a welcome relief after the afternooon. For me, the strongest and most original entries were in the Tableau Class, which was won by Overthrow of the Tsar, built by Pentathlon Carnival Club, with last year’s winners, Huckyduck Carnival Club coming second with Way out West. However, yet again, the overall winners were Gremlins, with their entry Jungle Drums. While it was still impressive, I don’t think it matched last year’s entry.

The squibbing display was cancelled, due to the previous sad events, but it was still an enjoyable evening.

And one final photo of Wick Carnival Club’s 2011 entry, Inca, having met some of them and some members of the Pentathlon Carnival Club this afternoon, as I got caught up in the Black Sunday celebrations.

http://heikoworld.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/bridgwater-carnival-2011/
http://heikoworld.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/bridgwater-carnival-2011-part-2/

Guy Fawkes Carnival Photo Clusters

Spirit of the Blitz by Huckyduck CC

I have now created a number of photo clusters featuring some of the carts entered in the 2010 Somerset County Carnival circuit. They are aimed at performers who took part in the carnival, who would like a memento of their club’s entries and will be available as either A3 or A4 prints, on high quality, heavyweight fine art paper. If you are interested and would like to know if your club’s entry is available, please contact me, if you don’t see anything suitable. They can be printed with or without a caption, according to preference. I will be adding further clusters to the gallery as I create them, so please drop back in to see other examples.