Andy Ward reports on this year’s Bradley Stoke Carnival, which took place on Saturday 26th August.
The event opened with the traditional carnival parade processing along Brook Way led by the City of Bristol Pipes and Drums and with entries from the Bradley Stoke community, including amongst others, a great entry from the Bradley Stoke Lions Club featuring, of course, a lion, a witch and a wardrobe! As always, the parade swelled in numbers as members of the public joined in the procession as we passed by and by the time it reached the Jubilee Green it had doubled in length.
Prizes were presented to winning parade entrants, including the Lions Club and Bradley Stoke in Bloom, before we enjoyed another performance from the parade band.
As in previous years, we had a selection of commercial and charity stalls on the field, along with commercial traders, all of which created a nice village green feel for visitors to wander around at their leisure. The funfair also proved to be very popular and seemed to be busy all day.
This year the Carnival Committee provided a free to use community zone (buckets were on site for donations to the mayor’s charity for those that wished to do so) which consisted of a ‘Total Wipe Out’ inflatable, a 60-foot long assault course and a Gladiator duelling area, as well as a vintage traditional games area.
The idea behind the community zone was so people could come along to the carnival and have a relatively inexpensive day yet still be able to join in the fun and it certainly seemed to be the case considering how busy the zone remained until the very end.
Live music has always featured at the carnival and this year was no different. Bradley Stoke Radio provided and hosted the music stage for the day, as well as broadcasting the entire stage line-up live on air.
In response to feedback received at previous carnivals, the line-up featured a mix of both local talent and tribute acts.
Judging by those singing along in front of the stage, it would appear that Angel Heart and the Neil Diamond, Robbie Williams and Elvis tribute acts went down a storm, as did all the very talented and entertaining performers taking to the stage throughout the day, Voices were raised in song all afternoon!
A massive thank you to everyone for coming along and joining in on the day. The event was put on by the community for the town to enjoy and it seemed that all those who came along had great day. We were blessed with some amazing weather.
Thanks also to those involved in putting the event together, both before and on the day and, of course, all the wonderful volunteers who made the event happen.
More carnival photos: Facebook
• The total collected for the mayor’s charities, including the collection buckets, stall fees and donations, was £465.
This article originally appeared in the October 2017 issue of the Bradley Stoke Journal news magazine (on page 29). The magazine is 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.
