With just over two months to the big day, we have much to get through, so let’s get started!

Once again we will be asking the children of key stages 1 & 2 to enter our competitions to become Carnival King, Queen and Attendants. This year however, we have changed the format from a colouring competition to a word search (KS1) & crossword (KS2). All you have to do is fill in the relevant item for your age group and send it in! Winners will be drawn randomly whilst each competition will be available to enter through parent mail or via our Facebook page.

As for events on the day, we are very pleased to announce that a number of our local groups will be entertaining us! From the Community Choir, KD Academy, BVC Choir, Newmarket Hotshots & The Indietones to newcomers Performance Without Limits, Max Jamieson & Now Wash Your Hands. This year we also have our Festival Tent which will include music, poetry and storytelling amongst other things. If you are a community group and you would like to be part of the day it is not too late! Please contact us through the usual methods.

We have an excellent variety of food & beverage stalls who will keep us all fed and watered throughout proceedings including our BBQ provided by the Scouts & tea, coffee and cakes from the WI. This year we are also working towards the aim of some vendors remaining open into the evening.

Moving on to craft stalls, again it is not too late to request a pitch! We will be taking bookings for a few weeks yet so if you would like to be involved,  please send your email enquiries to jmason802@gmail.com

Parade news next and the big question is: Have you decided on your float theme yet? We have had some entries already but with our theme of ‘Children’s TV Through The Years’, there is plenty of scope to choose from! For those of us brought up in the 1970s I’m hoping to see Camberwick Green or Grange Hill represented, but the choice is yours!

In other parade news, we have been working hard to find the best way to disembark each float as it arrives at the Rec. We will have a concentrated number of marshals helping with this process to make sure that everyone gets onto the Carnival field as quickly and safely as possible. However with the number of lorries in the area at that point, there will be some disruption to traffic. For residents living in adjacent roads, we ask for your patience and thank you in advance for your co-operation. The timings for the parade have yet to be decided however we will be posting all parade updates on our website and social media sites. Our parade team will soon be contacting those of you that have volunteered previously for marshalling duties, hopefully we will have the usual response as we need more of you than ever!

On to sponsorship and the Carnival programme. This year we will be distributing the programme with the June edition of Clunch. We will also be sending copies to Soham, Fordham and Exning, so if you would like to take an advert or sponsor an individual part of the Carnival then contact robin@robindyos.plus.com Remember, the more we raise, the more our local community benefits!

By the time we get to our next round up, the Carnival will be literally a couple of weeks away so at this point the committee would like to thank all of you for your efforts to date and we hope that the weather is kind to us!

Finally, we have one item to cover. For the past 8 years Burwell Carnival would not have existed but for the extreme effort and commitment shown by one individual. This person took on not one but many of the key roles to make sure Carnival kept moving from one year to the next. He took it upon himself to do more than anyone could ask, without fuss and at times at his own personal sacrifice. In my relatively short time on Burwell Carnival Committee I don’t think I could have wished to meet a more genuine, dedicated person who gave everything possible to make Burwell Carnival  what it is today. Quite simple without Pete Lancaster there would be no Carnival. Pete recently decided that his time to step down from the Carnival committee had come, however thanks to his tireless work up to now, we are in better shape than ever. We are also delighted to say that Pete has agreed to continue to MC on Carnival day.

That’s just about it for now but as always you can keep in touch with all things Carnival through the following ways:

Twitter: @Burwellcarnival
Facebook: www.facebook.com/burwellcarnival
Website: www.burwell-carnival.info

Roll on summer!

Burwell Carnival Committee