Helmdon Parish Council

Helmdon Carnival 2005 - Reports & Pictures

Carnival Report (click on above link for more pictures)

Even the chairman was not immune from taking the "hot seat"!

All pulling together - well, pulling anyway!

What a fantastic day! The 23rd Helmdon carnival proved to be one of the best.

The weekend got off to a great start on Saturday night with Nightshift and Montana playing at the sports field. The combination of good music and good food was well received. Approximately £700 was raised from the night to contribute towards the carnival funds. A special thanks to the organisers who put hard work into planning and running the night, by all accounts a good night and a cracking start to the carnival weekend.

Sunday night saw the Bell Inn full of people testing their knowledge against the quizmaster. The general knowledge quiz created an electric environment filling the pub with fun and laughter.

The weekend came to an exciting climax with the carnival and the day was blessed with excellent weather. The brass band set off from the primary school leading a string of people to the carnival field. The Rev Will Adams opened the carnival and judged the fancy dress competition. The field was full of attractions that suited all ages, a good combination of local craft stalls and activities far too many to list. Dancers, martial arts and a dog show were just a few activities that took centre stage in the main arena. The grand finale was the acrobatic plane display, an attraction that caught everybody's attention.

A success! The carnival weekend raised over £3,000, which will be divided between supporting village groups and Brackley Cottage Hospital. However, I feel that the carnival's greatest success was in getting the atmosphere right. The committee and all the volunteers that helped worked hard and put real effort in to making the carnival a real community event.

As chairmen of the carnival committee I offer a warm hearted thanks to the people who contributed to a successful weekend. A thank you to all of the sponsors of which there are too many to list. Finally, a special thanks goes to Michael Ayres (Tiger) who has been on the committee since it started 23 years ago. Tiger has hung up his boots and is now taking more of a back seat in the organisation of the carnival. The committee are open to new ideas and welcome anybody onto the committee. Should you wish to get involved in organising next year's event please contact me.

Photographs from the carnival can be found following the carnival links on www.helmdon.com. As you will see, every picture shows people wearing smiles - something that came naturally throughout the whole weekend!

David Bailey
Chair, Helmdon Carnival Committee

The Helmdon Craft & Produce Show

We enjoyed another successful Craft and Produce Show at this year's Carnival with a fantastic number of entries. Thank you to everyone who entered. The competition in the garden section was very close with the award for Best Garden and Best Vegetable Plot going to Simon Storer, who also managed to win the fruit and vegetable section on the day. Mrs. C Gordon won Best Water Feature with her fantastic fish filled pond and Paul Hardiman impressed the judge with his hanging basket, winning that category. The Best Patio award went to Caren Whitehouse (we could have made ourselves comfortable and stayed all afternoon) and Best Climbing Display to Simon Harris.

On the morning of the Carnival the entries came in thick and fast, and as always we were impressed by the quality of them. There is enormous talent lurking in Helmdon! Ruth Jessett won the cup in the craft and produce section with Ann Wilson winning the Bloomers Trophy in the flower section. The children in the village as usual produced the best entries with their scary masks, decorated biscuits, fairy cakes and pictures. Lucinda Cross won the cup in the 7 and under section, Stefano Capella won the 8 to 12 section and Sam Oakey won the cup in the 13 and over section.

We hope everyone enjoys the Craft and Produce Show. It is a very traditional English event but is also about having fun and brings us together as a community, so we hope even more of you will enter next year. We are also looking for new committee members, if anyone is interested contact Jo Ezzy, it only involves a few meetings and helping out on carnival day.

Sarah Stubbs
Secretary, Helmdon Horticultural Society