The next Newbury Carnival Parade and Fete will take place in July 2011. Please check back soon for confirmation of the exact date or follow us on Twitter for automatic updates. Alternatively you can register online (see left) and we’ll contact you with all the latest Carnival news.
Please read on for more news and pictures …
A quick hello to everyone we saw at the 2010 Volunteer Fair at the Corn Exchange and an enormous thank you to Garry Pouslon and the team at Volunteer Centre West Berkshire for organising the event. It was lovely to see so many ‘friends’ of the Carnival and to meet lots of new people. We hope you will all be able to join in the fun of Newbury Carnival 2011.
We have now added two online forms to our website. If you would like to join our lively and enthusiastic team of volunteers who RUN the Carnival please click here to find out more and submit your details.
If you would like to register an interest to TAKE PART in Newbury Carnival 2011, please click here and complete the form. We will then add you to our mailing list and send you priority updates about the date, theme and other details of next year’s Carnival, as well as keeping you in touch with developments and events we will be running during 2010.
A very Happy New Year to all from everyone at Newbury Carnival!
Although there won’t be a Carnival Parade in 2010, we still have plenty going on and we would LOVE you to be a part of it.
Members of the Carnival Team will be at the Volunteer Fair at The Corn Exchange, Newbury, on Saturday 16th January, 10am-3pm. Come and find us there and discover more about what is happening this year. If you can spare any time to help – either on the day of the next Carnival Parade or at other events between now and then – we would love to talk to you. And if you can’t make the Volunteer Fair, don’t forget that you can always email us: newburycarnival@gmail.com.
We’re looking forward to seeing you again in 2010.
The hot, sunny day of Newbury Carnival 2009 seemed a very long way away last Friday, as Carnival Queen attendant Ellie Bridger-Wilkinson joined Father Christmas in his procession through the streets of Newbury. Father Christmas was here to switch on the town’s Christmas lights. A large and enthusiastic crowd filled the Market Place and – after weeks of rain and thanks to some clever work behind the scenes by Newbury Town Council – it even ’snowed’!
Well it may be nearly mid-winter but the Carnival Team is still busy. Later this week we will be meeting to sort out dates for some of the ideas proposed for events in 2010. If you have any suggestions for these or if you can spare a little time to join the team during the coming months, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. New members are always welcome.
Following on from the huge success of Newbury Carnival 2009, Carnival Team members decided that the Parade should run every two years. We think there are lots of good reasons for this.
Here’s what we said in our press release:
The next Newbury Carnival Parade will take place in summer 2011. At the recent Newbury Carnival Annual General Meeting, members agreed to keep the current two year gap in order to allow more time for fund raising, planning and organising what has become Newbury’s biggest community event.
Commenting on the decision, Carnival Chairman, Bryan Harper said, “We had record numbers participating this year and record crowds watching, making it a huge challenge to follow this. Formally establishing this as a biennial event will allow us the opportunity to make it bigger and better than ever for 2011”.
Jennie Simmons, who was part of the Royal British Legion float this year said, “This is a brilliant idea. We appreciate the huge efforts which go into organising this event, which has grown tremendously in recent years. We would really like to take part again next time and this will give us more time to organise our participation.”
Although there will not be a parade in 2010, there will still be a programme of Carnival events held throughout next year. A detailed programme is currently being drawn up and will be announced early in the New Year.
Newbury Carnival is run entirely by volunteers and is always seeking new members. Anyone who is interested in joining the Carnival Team is very welcome. Please contact Newbury Carnival Secretary, Jacquie Cooper, at newburycarnival@gmail.com.
Following the Carnival Team’s final meeting earlier this week, Newbury Carnival 2009 is now officially over. 
We won’t be posting any more news to this website until the autumn, but you can still contact us by emailing to newburycarnival@gmail.com. We welcome your comments and suggestions for the future – and don’t forget that we’re always interested to hear from anyone who would like to help with the organisation, sponsorship or assist in any other way.
We’d like to leave you with the words of our 2009 Carnival Queen, Jenny Moorcroft:
It is just amazing what people have done this year. This has got to be the best one yet!
Best wishes from everyone at Newbury Carnival – we look forward to seeing you again next time.
The winner of our Carnival photo competition is local resident and amateur photographer Richard Markham. Many congratulations to him and thanks again to all who took part. Here is the winning photograph, which we’re sure you will agree is delightful.
Richard is kindly donating his prize money to the Carnival’s nominated charity for 2009, West Berkshire Mencap.
Thanks to the Newbury Weekly News (for judging), we have a winner for this year’s Carnival photo competition. It was very difficult to choose between so many wonderful entries. We hope to let you have the details soon.
Thank you to everyone who sent in entries for the Carnival photo competition. The competition is now closed and the judges are working through hundreds of wonderful pictures to find a winner. Thank you to Sainsbury’s for sponsoring this competition. We hope to announce the winner shortly. Meanwhile, please scroll down to enjoy lots of photos from this year’s Carnival.
Here are just some of the entries we’ve received so far for our Newbury Carnival 2009 photo competition. The prize is £100 and entries must be received by midnight on Thursday 16th July. Please scroll down to view more photos including those taken by our official photographer for 2009, David Hatfull.
Recently on our Twitter feed:
