Carnival: Here we go again! (From This is The West Country)

Carnival: Here we go again!

1:00pm Friday 28th September 2012 in News

ILMINSTER Carnival is ready to roll for another year.

Months of planning come to fruition this Saturday, September 29, with the town’s annual Children’s Carnival kicking off a week of fun leading up to the main event on Saturday, October 6, when the streets will be brought to life by the sights, sounds and colours of Ilminster Carnival.

The Children’s Carnival will get underway at 1.45pm, starting and finishing at the Ile Youth Club – turn to page 42 for more details as there’s still a chance for youngsters to put in a last-minute entry.

A family service at the Minster Church in Ilminster is on Sunday, September 30, from 10.30am with a Carnival theme. Any children wanting to wear fancy dress for the service are more than welcome to do so.

A Carnival bingo night will take place on Monday, October 1, at Broadway village hall with eyes down at 7.30pm, and a Carnival quiz night will be held at the Shrubbery Hotel, Ilminster, at 7.30pm on Wednesday, October 3. Teams of four are needed for the event, hosted by Ilminster Rotary Club.

A Carnival sale will be held in the Market Square, Ilminster, on Friday, October 5, from 9am, and later that day there is the ever popular annual Carnival disco at the Shrubbery Hotel. Tickets at £4 can be bought on 01460-53508 or at the Royal Oak, or will cost £6 on the door from 9pm.

Shopkeepers and businesses can enter a best dressed window competition for Carnival, to be judged from Saturday, September 29, to Friday, October 5.

For Ilminster Carnival itself on Saturday, October 6, the procession of carts, bands, majorettes, masqueraders and collectors sets off from Whitelackington Hill at 7.15pm, following the usual route of East Street, Silver Street, West Street and Station Road before finishing at the Kings Road Tyres Roundabout.

Roads will close to traffic at 7pm, though motorists should note that the Boxstone Hill road will be closed from 3pm.

Carnival-goers have also been told there will be a rest area on the route for the procession, which will start from the bottom of Silver Street, just after the St Margaret’s Somerset Hospice charity shop, and will finish just after the barber’s shop on West Street corner. There will be signs to indicate where the start and finish of the rest area.

Food and hot drinks will be available from the Carnival committee stall in the Market Square all evening on Saturday, October 6.

Collectors are also required on the big night to rattle the all-important tins. They can pick up collecting tins from the Ile Youth Club between 5pm and 6pm.

Three or more collectors collecting for a local charity or group can receive 25% of what they collect on the night in their tins.

People are also reminded that Herbert’s Fun Fair will be at the Recreation Ground on October 3-6.