1. It’s huge fun! (see above)
2. It’ll warm your heart
3. Kids love it
4. So does everyone else
5. It’s a whole afternoon of free entertainment! (From 12.00pm to 6.00pm)
6. Why slave over the cooker when you can enjoy the Picnic in the Park? (Buy your refreshments from the wide range available from stalls in Northcroft Park or bring your own. Or both.)
7. There’s a packed programme of arena performances: bands, dancers, singers: something for everyone.
8. Even crowd members can win prizes with our photography competition (up to £100).
9. The parade is a real spectacle – West Berkshire’s biggest free event (it’s free to enter, free to watch and is entirely organised by volunteers).
10. There’s masses to do in Northcroft Park: over 100 stalls, 2 entertainment arenas, a funfair, food, drink, music, dancing.
11. You can support our local charities – bring lots of coins.
12. Car parking is free in Newbury on Sundays. Yay!
13. Everyone else is going. Just think how left out you’d feel…
14. Our two sets of Golden Couples, celebrating their 50^th wedding anniversaries, would just love to see you waving to them from the crowd.
15. Street entertainers!
16. The result of the Silverstone Grand Prix is pretty much a foregone conclusion*.
17. There’s really no excuse for not going.
18. A lot of people – 800 at least – have worked really hard on their parade entries and deserve your support.
19. It’s not far to travel (unless you live far away, obviously, like the family from Dumfries who are visiting for the Carnival!)
20. We would really love to see you there!

We were only going to list our top ten but there are just too many good reasons.  Tweet any others you can think of to @newburycarnival or email them to newburycarnival@gmail.com

*I will, even though the result is a foregone conclusion, be recording the race to watch later. So if you find out who wins, please don’t tell me.  I’ll be the one wearing the hi-vis jacket.

The winning photo from our 2009 photography competition, which was taken by Richard Markham

We are delighted that Newbury Camera Club will be running this year’s carnival photography competition.  Full details of the competition are here. There will be two cash prizes: £100 for the winner in the 18s and above age group and £50 under 18s.  Runners up in each category will receive a commendation certificate and ‘I Love Newbury’ T-Shirts kindly donated by Appleprint.  You don’t need to be an expert photographer to take part and photos taken on your mobile phone are just as welcome as those taken using up-market cameras.  Newbury Camera Club members will be running a stall at the Carnival Funfair and Fete in Northcroft Park where you can find out about how to submit your competition entries and learn more about the club and its activities.

Here’s one of our favourite video clips from Newbury Carnival 2009.  We’ll let the excited crowd member, who you can hear reacting off-camera, speak for himself!

We’d like to say Happy Birthday to our friends at 14:21, the organisation which was our nominated charity in 2007 and which has just celebrated its 25th anniversary.  Good luck to all for the coming years.  We look forward to seeing you again at the Carnival Fete on 10th July!

Royal Navy Cadets prepare to help with Carnival Steerage at the 1923 Newbury Carnival

With only a few weeks to go, the Carnival Control Centre is in lockdown, so we thought we’d give you a glimpse of one of the more complex aspects of running Newbury Carnival: steering the parade along its route through the town centre.  There’s more to this than you might think as this web page explains.

We’re already set to have more than 100 stalls and other attractions at our Fete and Funfair, which has become a major feature of Newbury Carnival Day.  But our new location of Northcroft Park – first used in 2009 - means that there’s room for even more. So if you’d like to book a space for your community group, charity or business visit the Fete and Funfair page for more information and contact details.

We have a full programme of events starting with Picnic in the Park and the opening by Elvis at 12.00pm.  Then there’s a packed programme in the arenas and on stage during the rest of the afternoon, with an intermission so that visitors can enjoy Newbury Carnival Parade before returning to Northcroft Park until the event closes at 6.00pm.

Parade entry number 50 arrived last night – a warm welcome to Lollipop Promotions and also to Quackers Day Nursery.  (Both entries arrived at the same time!)  And there’s still time for you to enter: click here for details.

After careful consideration,  Newbury Carnival has selected Eight Bells for Mental Health as our nominated charity for 2011.  Eight Bells is a local, member-run organisation for people whose lives are affected by mental health issues. It offers a welcoming and safe place for people to go and support each other. With only one part time paid employee, members run all aspects of the group, from day-to-day opening and closing of the building in Bartholomew Street to long term planning for the development of the organisation and the services it provides.  Eight Bells offer workshops in art, music and crafts, as well as drinks, snacks and even a home cooked meal, and is open from Mon-Thurs from 9:30 to 3:30.  Everyone is welcome!

Bryan Harper, Chairman of Newbury Carnival, said: “We’re delighted to be supporting Eight Bells this year. We had many great causes looking for our support because the Carnival is such a great way of raising money and awareness for charity. But Eight Bells stood out for us – they’re local, they’re already making a difference to people’s lives and we felt it was something we wanted to support this year.  Eight Bells were the clear winner amongst our team.”

Jenifer Klepfer of Eight Bells for Mental Health told us: “Eight Bells gives an open welcome to people. Some want to come to talk, some want to come for a drink and a biscuit and some just come  for the company. Members decide what’s important and we encourage everyone to be involved as we plan our future. So Eight Bells is a local charity doing an important job for people in this area. We’re absolutely over the moon about the Carnival choosing us as their charity for this year – money is tight as ever and we need funds if we’re to continue to grow. We also want to share with  people more about what we do and being the Carnival’s charity is perfect for us. We are very excited to be taking part!”

The ethos of Eight Bells is to provide an environment in which people whose lives have been affected by mental health issues can share skills, regain confidence and support each other to rebuild lives. Eight Bells hopes to reduce health inequalities and promotes the independence of vulnerable people, delivering real support and value to both individual members and the wider community.

Please help us to support them and come along with lots of lose change on 10th July, to fill the buckets of our Parade entrants and others who will be collecting for them.  THANK YOU!

In keeping with this year’s Carnival theme of ‘Going for Gold’, we’re looking for couples who are celebrating their golden wedding anniversary this year.

If you were married in 1961 and would like to be guests of honour in this year’s Carnival Parade, do drop us a line at newburycarnival@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you.

This year’s Carnival Fete will be opened by none other than The King himself: ‘Elvis’, otherwise known as Mike Nova, who will be providing music to get you in the Carnival mood.  Why not join us in Northcroft Park for the opening ceremony at 12.00 noon and bring a picnic.  Music and entertainment continues from 12.00-1.30pm, offering plenty of fun before the Carnival Parade begins.  Bring your own food or visit one of the many, varied food stalls at the Fete.