Hatherleigh Carnival 2016
Say what you like ... this was the best carnival in at least 15 years!
The weather was kind; large crowds turned out on Saturday night and the standard of the floats was very high indeed.
Here's a flavour of what happened, starting with Friday evening's pull by the kids of the town.
COPYRIGHT MESSAGE: All images are in the copyright of Geoff Hodgkinson.
None of these images may be reproduced, copied, distributed or published elsewhere in any form without the specific permission of the copyright holder.
Hatherleigh Carnival Committee has been granted a licence to use these and other images by Geoff Hodgkinson on it's web site.
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More very young persons than usual helped pull the Tar Barrels up to their overnight resting place on Friday evening. A new generation coming through perhaps? On Saturday night, there was a float entitled "Hatherleigh's Future Pullers" to emphasise this. |

After the barrels had been safely deposited at the top of the town, Rob and Dave proved as popular as ever helping the Ukelele Bashers entertain the crowds. |

Saturday morning, 5am, Handy Andy gets to light the morning tar barrels ... |

... marking the start of Carnival in the usual way. It was the 161st year (as far as we know) of this famous tradition. |

At 11am, another long tradition was honoured when the Eggesford Hunt met in The Square. |

Shortly after the Hunt had departed, Junior Criers were one of the features of the Town Criers competition that followed. It's organised annually by Town Crier Ros (that's her in the background!) |

The afternoon Procession at 2pm featured all kinds of costumes and fancy dress. Here, the Brownies show off their prowess with crepe paper. |

A prize winner in the fancy dress competition. |

Queen Elizabeth, with President Jenny Phillips, at the afternoon crowning ceremony. |


Jenny "did the business" for Prince Guy and Princess Heidi too. |

During the evening procession, Trump harangued two Mexicans over "the wall" on the longest float we've ever seen in the modern Carnival. The Carnival took place just two days after Trump became President-elect of USA. We hope he wasn't among our spectators! |

Another evening float. Hard (B)rock, as portrayed by two junior Carnivalites and a massive animated crepe paper senior that must surely be one of the icons of the 2016 event. |

Finally, the Carnival was brought to a close by the evening Tar Barrel pull. |

Then folks partied on 'til late to the sounds of Crazy Mama.
See you next year? |
These are just a representative sample of the many images taken over the weekend by Geoff Hodgkinson.
More images are (or will soon be) on the Carnival Web Site. |