Carnival - past its sell by date?

[cmonstanley]

theres an idea

[Margaret Pilkington]

However you cut it...nothing is the same as when we old 'uns were growing up.
Bars of chocolate were bigger, but we(i'm speaking from personal perspective here) hadn't the money to buy them.
We didn't expect much so anything we got was a bonus.
The world has changed...we have to be able to see that, and perhaps, be grateful that we grew up when we did.

[mobertol]

I can remember loving Accrington carnival as a girl, standing on Broadway and struggling to see for all the people and afterwards going to the park -it was a really big thing and something to be looked forward too from one year to the next. I hope it does continue as I'm sure children still love it.
In Italy, being a Catholic country it's done 40 days before Easter, at Mardi Gras, as a final fling before Lent and is a really big festival. The kids are off school for it and all take part getting dressed up in costumes even if they aren't on a float or part of a group or dance team. There are many famous carnivals over here -Venice and Viareggio come to mind as well as the orange-throwing Carnival in Ivrea. http://www.lifeinitaly.com/culture/i..._carnivals.asp
It's about having fun, eating sweets and getting dressed up in costumes and I think that's what they try to do with the carnival in Accy too. I have seen some photos of it on FB and of the carnival ground where other things were organised and it looked quite well planned. What I thought was a bit naff was having a so-called "celeb" on display surrounded by bodyguards - surely the local Carnival Queen was enough glamour. I'm sure most of the children would have prefered the money that was presumably spent there being used in a different way -perhaps in a memento or some sweets for them to keep and take home!

[accyman]

aye used to go along broadway when i was a kid and then they pedestrianised broadway and effectivly killed the town.

have you seen the old pictures when it was open ,a steady stream of cars and thriving shops and pavements flowing with shoppers.

think theres been more deaths on teh bust station than there ever was on broadway when it had traffic and all them people

at least people can walk around drunk or high now without fear of getting hit by a car

[hedman2003]

I agree that the procession was better than more recent ones with more floats than in previous years and sadly due the reasons explained in previous posts we will never return to the scale of the Carnivals that we had in the 70's

[accyman]

the next procession through town will be when someone gets a parking ticket on blackburn road

[cashman]

Originally Posted by accyman

the next procession through town will be when someone gets a parking ticket on blackburn road

Hard to believe but seen one getting a ticket on Whalley rd sat morn.

[accyman]

Originally Posted by cashman

Hard to believe but seen one getting a ticket on Whalley rd sat morn.

oh heck isnt that the first sign of teh appocolypse

or it was a bloke who was new to the job lol

we shoudl have a parade now celebrating a ticket getting issued and a carnival if it gets paid

[cashman]

Was just glad Paris was wi me as a witness, or many may not believe.

[ffberryb77]

Hello. This year's Carnival VERY NEARLY didn't happen at all. Normally organised by 20 Accrington Lions over two years, this one was organised by five people in six months. The single greatest obstacle was apathy.

It is ironic that this be brought up here as many months ago, I tried (and failed) to generate interest on this very forum.

I would like to echo those that suggest it's a matter for the children to decide - the kids of Sacred Heart that put their all into making a lion king float, the dancers of mount Carmel and so on.

I asked my own kids if they enjoyed it, which they did, which I consider job done.

We know there is much to improve on, so please tell us, or better still, help us next time.

We had more floats than last time, more visitors than last time and we made the national press.

Organising this nearly broke me, and on three occasions it was in severe jeopardy. We welcome ALL constructive feedback. Thankfully, the negativity seems confined to people who didn't come (yet still feel they should comment).

Thanks to (among others) rishton waste paper, Millers UK, giftprint, sharps estate agents, stonerig, coopers critters, observer, Scott Dawson print, Accrington Stanley, Hyndburn in leisure, gaskell motor bodies, fccc, sacred Heart, mount Carmel, mount pleasant, 1st scouts, rainbows, brownies, cubs, pipe band, dog display team, transport and all the other hgv companies and drivers, Holland's pies, Cato's World, our fantastic carnival makers, fat Tuesday, Hyndburn council, ventbrook, lions, and that is just off the top of my head as I post this from my mobile.

More details on our Facebook and Twitter pages and I will be posting a video thanking everyone who got this event off the ground.

I promise, 2015 will be bigger and better. For now, I am going to rest.

[Gayle]

Well I just want to say thank you to those that put the hard work and time in to make it happen.

I know just how hard it is to organise an event and this one had a lot of complexity with road closures, fairgrounds, community groups, activities, showcases, celebs etc. so you did a fantastic job.

There will always be negativity and people who will say it could have been done better/differently but those people will rarely get off their backside to help out and they often don't know what restrictions or costs are involved.

The Civic put forward a walking group in the procession. It was our first foray into this and we've already discussed how we can improve on what we did for next time. Next time we'll be in it to win it, lol.

My children and all the others that joined us had a good time. We got drenched but it didn't matter. We've already had some phonecalls from the 100s of leaflets we handed out so that was a success.

All in all I would say that it was a good event that you can be proud of.

[flashy]

My niece was on the sea cadets float, she was one of the Mount Carmel dancers in the last Carnival, she loves doing it

[Guinness]

Originally Posted by ffberryb77

Hello. This year's Carnival VERY NEARLY didn't happen at all. Normally organised by 20 Accrington Lions over two years, this one was organised by five people in six months. The single greatest obstacle was apathy.

It is ironic that this be brought up here as many months ago, I tried (and failed) to generate interest on this very forum.

I would like to echo those that suggest it's a matter for the children to decide - the kids of Sacred Heart that put their all into making a lion king float, the dancers of mount Carmel and so on.

I asked my own kids if they enjoyed it, which they did, which I consider job done.

We know there is much to improve on, so please tell us, or better still, help us next time.

We had more floats than last time, more visitors than last time and we made the national press.

Organising this nearly broke me, and on three occasions it was in severe jeopardy. We welcome ALL constructive feedback. Thankfully, the negativity seems confined to people who didn't come (yet still feel they should comment).

I promise, 2015 will be bigger and better. For now, I am going to rest.

The only negativity on this whole thread is coming from me. I daresay if I'd put a poll along with my original title I would have been only one who thought that it was past it's sell by date.

I actually did go to watch, and if you care to actually read both my posts on this thread I praised the effort and work that went into it.

You mention the Lion King float...my argument is that there used to be many such floats and it used to be a great spectacle.

You want constructive criticism, I'm sorry I just can't oblige because unfortunately you can't make it any better than it was without throwing a ton of money at it which people just don't have.

For instance the police, fire, ambulance and NHS service used to be in the parade, in these days of cutbacks they don't have the resources to attend and the fire service most definitely don't have a spare engine they can send along for the kids to mess around on with an officer demonstrating what would happen if you put a chip pan out with a cupful of water. Nor do we have Gilbraiths and other assorted hauliers to throw in wagons, drivers and the fuel to run them free of charge.

Honestly, I wish you luck next time, but I still think it's a bygone thing, like chips in newspaper and wakes week.

[ffberryb77]

Lol! Well, didn't mean you specifically - I assumed you were playing devils advocate...

The only question I would ask is having seen the procession, did you miss the fire engine at the back?!

We are also looking for fresh ideas for 2015 - we already have a few!

[accyman]

in another thread maybe even this one i did suggest putting an mp in a rolling cage but for some reason of which i cant even begin to comprehend someone thought it best to complain and get it removed

no swearing , no names,no breaking forum rules at all so rght now ill just put it in text without the picture of a man in a cage but slightly updated..

PUT A M.P IN A ROLLING CAGE AND LET PEOPLE THROW ROTTEN TOMATOES AT IT

it would be the most busy carnival ever

you can throw egss but there is a 50p charge per egg which is more than reasonable in todays economic climate

if you want to splash out £5 you can chuck an accy nori at it just to keep a local theme to things