Colchester Carnival King
This piece was first published in the brilliant Colchester 101 magazine. Copies are available for free around pubs, shops and other public places in the town.
The Colchester Carnival is coming to town and members of the local community shrug their shoulders and say meh… Actually, that is incredibly unfair. Having stepped in to try and salvage the Carnival, Colchester Round Table deserves every success in its efforts to keep this local tradition of floats, um, afloat.
The problem is one of image - isn’t that always the case with Carnivals? I’m not talking about pasty-faced coppers grinning a nervous cheesy pose for the photographers, but the problem of the complete disaster that was the attempt to stage the Colchester Carnival some twelve months ago.
It’s not great to dwell upon past mistakes, but to look forward July 16th this summer we need to know exactly what went wrong between the previous organisers and Colchester Borough Council.
Councillor Nick Barlow, the cabinet member for Economic Development, Culture and Tourism (work ‘n play) recognises that mistakes were made. Writing on his personal blog, he states:
“There’s an extremely lengthy post or article to be written by someone on all the reasons why Colchester Carnival didn’t take place this year, but that’s for another time…”
The main fallout was centred around safety, the procession route, road signage and stewarding. It’s not as simple as stating let’s throw a massive street party and see what happens.
The economics of the High Street are central to the Colchester economy. Whilst you’re wiggling your bottom in the air and getting all hot and steamy down Head Street, the local shopkeepers are out of pocket.
Thankfully the Round Table has the support of the Council this year, as well as some very generous contributions from local businesses. Systematic Logistics International has very kindly offered for the free use of its lorries for the floats. Likewise the Round Table is offering free participation for non-profit organistations, community groups and schools.
Which brings us round to exactly what is the point of a carnival in Colchester? You can see where the tradition in Rio de Janeiro and Notting Hill comes from, but in Britain’s Oldest Recorded Town?
Ah, ye ancient cynic - Colchester has a proud tradition of partying, with the Carnival being dormant for only a relatively short period of time. No one is claiming that Colchester can compete with the colour of Notting Hill, and I’m not sure that locally we even want to, either.
Nope - it should all be about the local. Yeah, it’s cheesy, but the Roman heritage is something to celebrate. We need floats full of local kids proud of their history and past. A generic samba beat and booty shaking procession may be fun (or maybe not) but it doesn’t speak to Colchester.
The mid-July timing is perfect for the schools. The kids will be sky high ahead of the six-week break, and this should be a day in which the town comes together before we all bugger off to Clacton for the summer break.
It’s a delicate balancing act that the Round Table has in asking for support from local businesses, the Council, and most important of all, the people of Colchester. Hopefully the enthusiasm can carry us through the summer, all the way through to the August Bank Holiday and the Colchester Free Festival.
Meh?
Yeah!
12/05/2011 at 1:58 pm Permalink
Thanks for posting such an informed and considered piece. I am one of the organisers of this year’s carnival, so I thought it might be useful to give your readers a bit of context.
This year’s carnival has been put in place following exhaustive planning. We got all the legal aspects sorted out before the start of the year, so we could be sure that we had the support of the Borough Council, the County Council and the police. We only went ahead with the details once these had been agreed. In this, all the above bodies have been extremely supportive, and will help with costs where possible.
We have sought input from all aspects of the community, and continue to do so through monthly public meetings. This has helped us to organise the carnival that Colchester wants. In terms of the relevance of the carnival, it is a real community event, the likes of which don’t come around much any more. There aren’t many opportunities for interest groups of all types, to be able to showcase their talents and let their hair down - all for free. We are offering the people of Colchester to see what there is to offer in your town. I am sure the procession and family fun day will amaze people. Go to the website and see for yourself!
13/05/2011 at 10:18 am Permalink
I am proud to have been asked to put together the actual procession: This year, we have decided that this years carnival will be the real thing. No more rows of saleroom cars with a balloon on each wing mirror. No more waving from undecorated curtainsiders. This year we are concentrating on three things. Colour- lots of it!, Noise- of the right kind! - and Performance. We already have three samba bands, possibly four, if my idea for a scratch junk band gets off the ground this year. We have some steel pan players, african drummers, Indian dancers and so on, as well as lots of dance, from street dance to traditional morris. There will be such a huge range of stuff that Colchester will simply say… Wow!
Just to add to the sheer exhuberance of it all, there will be street performances all day in the town and in the park. I’ve done this kind of thing a few times, and believe me, it’s your carnival not ours, and what makes the difference is the people who join in. We need dancers and unicyclists and stiltwalkers and singers, we need bands and jugglers and majorettes and morris men, we want choirs and breakdancers, african drummers and indian dancers, we need people in national dress and fancy dress and uniforms and silly costumes…
We want people dressed as Romans, as celts and Pirates, as animals… we want people to make giant puppets! If you ride a bike, a skateboard, roller skates or a tandem. We want you to get involved and just have fun! You don’t have to be in an organised club, just get together with a few mates and form a Carnival Crew, make some costumes, learn to dance the samba from the website and join in!
The website tells you everything http://colchestercarnival.com.
Email me for lots more inspiration and info: [email protected]