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St Mary's Carnival draws thousands to Edlesborough
Biggest one-day community event in the calendar makes thousands for charity.
THE crowds descended on Edlesborough on Saturday for the biggest event in the region – the annual St Mary's Carnival.
Hordes of families enjoyed the sunshine and helped organisers raise more than 11,000 for charity.
The event's 120 stalls also raked in thousands for their own individual causes making it the most popular event of its kind in Herts, Beds and Bucks.
The theme for this year was books and the spectacular parade featured up to 40 groups, on floats and walking, from schools, playgroups, local businesses and charities which harked back to the golden age of children's literature.
Treasure Island, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, The Flower Fairies and The Famous Five were brought magically to life in a parade that was led by carnival queen Charlotte Nilsen, princess Shauna Lugsden and attendants Elise Christie and Rebecca Riley.
They were joined by three groups of majorettes and a fleet of classic cars which made it one of the most memorable processions to launch the carnival in years.
During the morning families along the parade route were out decorating their homes with bunting and, the more adventurous, dazzled sight-seers with themed decorations.
The best dressed houses this year were 9 High Street, Eaton Bray (WinnieThe Pooh) and 23 The Green, Edlesborough (Alice In Wonderland) who each received trophies from Edlesborough Autos boss Ben Wright.
Visitors lined the route from Eaton Bray to Edlesborough to cheer on the parade before joining the crowds on Edlesborough Green.
The day was officially opened by Janet Hatfield, who retires this month as head teacher of Edlesborough School. She also had the difficult job of judging the floats.
Winners in the pre-school section were 1st: Edlesborough U5s (The Hungry Caterpillar); 2nd: Eaton Bray Lower School (Treasure Island); 3rd Cheeky Monkeys playgroup (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).
Lower school-age section: 1st: 1st Eaton Bray cubs and beavers (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory); 2nd: Edlesborough School (An Atlas); 3rd The 2nd Eaton Bray and Edlesborough brownies (Flower Fairies).
Adults: 1st The Cats Protection League; 2nd Janes, of The High Street, Edlesborough (The Famous Five); and 3rd: The Bell, Edlesborough, (Treasure Island).
Besides all the usual stalls there was worm charming, Clarabelle the Cow, a dog show, a petting corner, arena events, and, for the first time ever a music tent featuring local acoustic groups.
Carnival committee chairman, Gordon Gray, said afterwards: "There isn't another one day event in the area that draws bigger crowds.
"It was phenomenal. We had one of the biggest processions that we've ever had, more than 120 stalls, and the music festival was so successful that we will be expanding that in further years and may eventually see it spun off as a stand-alone event.
"The whole thing was just super. The thing I want to get across is how much of a community event this is. Most of the people on the procession route went to the trouble of putting up bunting and the whole community became involved to make it one of the most successful carnivals we have ever had.
"This was a community event to make us proud. There were no problems or upsets on the day, it all went like clockwork. We started with an empty green at 6am and it was empty again by 7pm and in-between we raised a huge sum of money."
Cash from the day is split with half going to the St Mary's Church fabric fund, 25 per cent to the neo-natal unit at the Luton & Dunstable Hospital, and the rest to local charities and good causes.
Next year's carnival is on July 5. If you want to get involved contact the carnival committee through their website www.stmarysvillagecarnival.com
*The tail end of the carnival comes this Saturday when the annual duck race is held in the village.
Go along to the end of Summerleys if you want to cheer your facourrite duck. The race starts at 1pm.
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Weather for Leighton Buzzard
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: -0 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: West
