Carnival fun in Bradley Stoke over the August bank holiday weekend

By Andy Ward, Bradley Stoke Carnival Committee.

The Third Bradley Stoke Carnival is being held this year on Saturday 29th August on the Jubilee Green, at the Jubilee Centre on Savages Wood Road and the Carnival Committee have pulled out all the stops to try to bring you a great day of family friendly fun and entertainment.

The parade, which this year has ‘party’ as it’s central theme, will be made up of members of the public and local community groups and will leave Brook Way Activity Centre at 11am, led by the magnificent City of Bristol Pipes and Drums. Cllr Erica Williams, the chair of South Gloucestershire Council, and Bradley Stoke’s mayor, Cllr Roger Avenin, will then lead the main body of the parade, which will have a group of noisy Indian drummers at the rear!

With traditional carnival whistles for all in the procession, it will be a bright, colourful, and noisy affair as it moves along Brook Way, so please pop out to lend your support and join in the fun.

It is anticipated that the parade will arrive at the Jubilee Green carnival field at approximately 12pm (the carnival field opens at 11.30am).

This year’s music and entertainment programme on the stage will hopefully have something to keep everyone happy, including a return visit from the Twerzels, who managed to not only bring the house down but a sky full of rain last year! We have an awesome Cher tribute act all the way from Las Vegas via Taunton! Ian Scott brings us his Tribute to Sir Tom Jones, Princess Elsa to keep the young ones happy and, to close the evening, Angel Heart Rocks.

Around the site, you will find a traditional style Punch & Judy with shows at 1.30pm and 3pm for the kids both young and old, a variety of commercial, community and charity stalls to browse and, if you fancy it, face painting provided by the team from Jump (we only ask for a small £1 donation to the mayor’s charity fund).

The popular classic and kit car display returns this year and will hopefully be bigger and better than last year, although the car owners always try to out do each other by polishing their pride and joy, so we are not really sure how they can improve on automotive perfection. However, just to put the pressure on a little bit, we are awarding trophies for the three best turned-out cars on the day. We can see the polishing rags coming out already!

An area in front of the stage will be roped off for community acts and displays plus, a first for the carnival, and possibly even Bradley Stoke, is a special fire breathing show!
Stilt walkers and mascots will also be wandering around the carnival field at various times throughout the afternoon and the Bristol Bus Preservation Group will hopefully be bringing an open top vintage bus to run free trips around the town.

A licensed bar provided by Bradley Stoke Football Club will be open all afternoon.

Hot air balloons are featured again this year, with planned launches across the carnival weekend, both mornings and evenings. The balloons are not operated by the carnival and the pilots will independently make a ‘go, no go’ decision based upon the anticipated weather conditions at the time.

Please note that there will be no parking available on site or on Savages Wood Road, however you can park at the Willow Brook Centre, as they have kindly agreed to suspend the car parking time limit for the day of carnival only.

The carnival is grant funded by Bradley Stoke Town Council and the Carnival Committee is grateful for their ongoing support.

More information:

• Bradley Stoke Carnival on Facebook
• Bradley Stoke Carnival on Twitter
• Carnival leaflet [PDF, on Dropbox]

Photos: 2014 Bradley Stoke Carnival (1) Parade on Brook Way (2) The Twerzels performing on Jubilee Green.

This article originally appeared in the August 2015 edition of the Bradley Stoke Journal news magazine, delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to 9,500 homes in Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke and Stoke Lodge. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.