Newbury Carnival 2009′s official photographer is David Hatfull of www.diemphoto.co.uk. Here are some of his excellent photos of the 2007 carnival to get you in the mood for Sunday.  Be sure to visit this website after the carnival to see his photos from this year.

We would also love to see YOUR photos and videos from Newbury Carnival 2009.  You can either upload them to an online photo sharing service like Picasa or Flickr and email us a link or you can email your favourite photos to newburycarnival@googlemail.com and we’ll publish the best of them here.

Carnival is always FANTASTIC FUN!  But there is a serious side to it as well.

Our nominated charity this year is West Berkshire Mencap and several Parade participants will be helping us to collect money for them as they walk along Bartholomew and Northbrook Streets.  In addition, many other Parade entrants will be hoping to raise money for their chosen charity or local community group, while other organisations will be fund raising at the Carnival Fete.

PLEASE help if you can. Why not have a look now and see whether you have any spare change in wallets, purses, and pockets which you can bring along on Sunday and put into someone’s collection bucket?  There are lots of people who are working hard to decorate lorries and make costumes, so that they can encourage you to give generously to charities which affect the lives of people in and around Newbury.  Let’s support them if we can – and have fun at the same time.

Apart from you, we hope, there will be nearly 60 stalls offering a wide range of refreshments, games, things to buy and other entertainment.  We’ve just added the latest list to the fete page.  With arena displays including bands and dancers, classic cars to admire before and after the Parade and a funfair throughout, there’s lots to do in Goldwell Park between 12.00pm and 6.00pm this Sunday.

Details of the prizes to be awarded at this year’s Newbury Carnival have just been confirmed.  For full details, see the website page called Parade prizes.

Don’t miss the 4 page pull-out supplement in today’s Newbury Weekly News which includes a map of the Carnival Parade route and the Carnival Fete in Goldwell Park, details of entries (up until the time it went to press) and much more.

Also be sure to listen to Kick FM for regular updates and interviews with members of the Carnival Team.  Today it’s the turn of the one and only Brian Sylvester, Newbury’s very own town crier.

Elvis fans will be thrilled to hear that the King is joining the Carnival Parade! Look out for Elvis impersonator Mike Nova singing his way through Bartholomew and Northbrook Streets on Sunday.

Other recent entries include Harry the horse from Newbury Racecourse and newcomers Beedon Cheer Club – welcome!. Don’t forget that you can join in the Parade right up until Sunday, but its very important that you contact us via enter.newburycarnival@googlemail.com in advance to let us know you are coming.

We’re delighted that members of 42 Engineer Regiment (Geographic) will be joining us on Sunday.  You will see a few of them in the Parade, as they are going to provide the advance escort  to clear the route for us.  But they will be doing much more behind the scenes, collecting and delivering equipment, installing safety barriers in Northbrook Street, erecting marquees and gazebos in Goldwell Park and much else besides.  They have even offered to stay to help us clear everything from the park when the Carnival Fete ends at 6:00pm – for which we are truly grateful!  MANY thanks, guys.

Here’s some coverage of the last Newbury Carnival, in 2007, courtesy of the excellent Newbury Weekly News video team.

Bromsgrove carnival is this weekend – 27th and 28th June – and we hope the participants, crowd and organisers all have a great time.

How do we know about Bromsgrove Carnival?  Because they started following us on Twitter (and vice versa) a while ago.  There’s a lot more to Twitter than meets the eye, you know.  We’re at www.twitter.com/newburycarnival – follow us for regular updates on Newbury Carnival in the days leading up to 5th July.

There will be a Carnival stall in the Market Place tomorrow (Saturday 27th), 9am – 2pm.   Here’s another chance for you to support the Carnival through buying a few raffle tickets.  (Please follow the link on the left of this page for a full list of prizes.)

By popular demand, the Carnival gnomes will be with us once again; and you can find out more about what’s happening on Carnival day throughout the town.  Please don’t forget to bring along any last minute Parade entry forms as well.

We’ll look forward to seeing everyone at the market.