Tavistock Carnival Week has been declared a success despite the final procession last Saturday night having to be postponed due to the weather.
Organisers the Lions Club of Tavistock made the difficult decision after hearing the weather forecast of strong winds and thunderstorms for late afternoon on Saturday.
This was the first time in the club’s long history of running the event that they had had to cancel the procession, apart from during the pandemic years. Although the thunderstorms failed to materialise, it was certainly very wet and windy, so the Lions felt they had made the right call.
Club spokesman Steve Grummitt said they hoped to rearrange the date of the procession for a Sunday afternoon in September.
‘We realise that a huge amount of work goes into making costumes, props and floats and we do not want to see all that effort go to waste so the club is proposing to run the procession on a Sunday in late September starting at 4pm and once the date has been agreed with all concerned, we will publicise the details through our Facebook page, website and the Tavistock Times Gazette,’ he said.
He added that the carnival week, which started with a fun day and offered a range of events, from dog shows to railway talks and an ever-popular pavement art competition, had otherwise gone swimmingly.
‘Despite this disappointing end to carnival week, all the other events during the week had gone extremely well. It had started off with a very successful and entertaining TaviFringe followed by an equally successful Fun Day with hundreds of people enjoying the stalls, food and entertainment in the Meadows on an unexpectedly warm and sunny afternoon.
‘The Peace Poster presentation evening on Monday in the Bedford Hotel was well attended as was the Pavement Artists’ Competition, sponsored by the Tavistock Times Gazette, with nearly 50 children and adults taking part.
‘The Concert in the Church on the Wednesday featured music from Stannary Brass, Blow Zone and the highly entertaining Rubber Band with audience members commenting that it was one of the best concerts that they had attended. It really did reflect the theme for Carnival which was “The Sound of Musicals”.
‘Tavistock Athletic Club ran its very successful Town Relay Races on the Thursday with hundreds of runners making there was around the town centre course whilst nearly 90 people packed into the Guildhall Courtroom to hear a very interesting talk by retired railwayman Bernard Mills on Tavistock’s Railways – North and South.
‘The final event was the Traders’ Skittles Match in the Stannary Arms with the team from Tavistock Carpets retaining the trophy. The club would like to thank all who had supported the carnival events during the week, the sponsors and the advertisers in the carnival programme without whose help, the week would not have been possible. The members are now looking forward to the procession in a couple of months’ time when it is hoped that the weather will be a lot more settled.’
CARNIVAL RESULTS:
Fun Day Dog Show (sponsored by Ron’s Pets): Best in Breed Classes: Moses – owned by James; Reserve: Bertie – owned by Ester. Best in Novelty Classes: Star – owned by Rachael; Reserve: Bruno – owned by Alex. Judge: Jade Curtis.
Duck Race (organised by Tavistock Community Primary School) with 70 entries: Winner: Jacob Heard ; Second: Indie Glidden Third: Louise Coles.
Pavement Artists' Competition (sponsored by the Tavistock Times Gazette):
Under 5 years: (11 entries): Winner: Olly Sherman; 2nd: Nova; 3rd: Noah Peers.5-8 years: (25 entries): Winner: Izzy Elliott; 2nd:Nyah Riggs; 3rd: Elsie McGlad. Nine and over: (nine entries): Winner: Kelsy Tilyer; 2nd: Lexi_Leigh Sherman; 3rd: Martha Page
Adults: (three entries)
Winner: Helen Bowyer; 2nd: Paula Smith; 3rd: Les Peek
Judges: Kate Wyatt (head of art at Tavistock College), Anne Wroath (former head of art at Tavistock College) and Graeme Ugle (president of Tavistock Lions Club)
Traders’ Skittles Competition at the Stannary Arms (with eight teams)
Winners: Tavistock Carpets (retaining the trophy) .