Carnival is a time to celebrate if that's the word, the event that took place when Guy Falkwes tried to blow up parliament on 5th November

We used it as just another excuse for having one too many in the pubs in town. The first time I saw the procession was from the entrance doorway of the White Lion in the high street. Ernie the barman had as all the pubs did in town, had removed all the tables and chairs, it was standing room only, that way more people could be crammed into the pub.
I remember at the end of the night, the procession of people holding high the torches, that after the highlight of the Carnival carts made the night end with a bang.

There was at least a gap of 20 years since the last time I saw the Carnival, I was in town for a reunion with the lads in November 2005
This reunion was a bit different to all the previous ones, that's because we had also invited the Wives / Partners along on the Saturday night for a drink in the Pig and Whistle.
I also had my Son, his children Dean (16) & Bekki (5) with us for the procession on the Friday, everything was going great, we had a good view at the gates to the old Cellophane plant, the carts etc were playing and everybody was in high spirits --- when the heavens opened and the rain came down in sheets, we were soaked to the skin in minutes.
Everybody was hoping that it would stop but it just kept coming down so we decided enough was enough and headed home.

Fortunately in order to see the start of the procession, we had walked the full length of Parkway, so had seen all the carts lined up, they had the lights on and the music blaring so on the way back we saw them all again, I really felt sorry for all the people on the carts as they were wet through and some of the lights had gone out, obviously the rain hitting them had blown them.
I heard that the following year the rain stayed away but it was freezing.

Another good thing about the Carnival is the gang shows in the Town hall, I have only seen one myself and it had been at least twenty years since my Father had seen one. So I got my good friend Roys wife Val to purchase a couple of tickets, My Father and my Nephew went and they said it was really good....................