Tuesday 9 August 2016

Carnival

held on the meadow
between he castle
on the hill


and the shady river
lined with stately water balsam


is an annual village event.
For some the highlight is the Show,
where villagers vie with each other
for first prize for best blooms, produce, jam and cakes,
artistic efforts like painting and photography 
and WI best decorated shoe boxes or some such,
all exhibited on long trestle tables covered in white paper cloths
in the huge Show Marquee.

The Show tent gets very hot on a summer’s day,
so tea tent, open BBQ and beer tent,
the amenity which attracts the greatest custom among young farmers,
are close by.

And right next to the beer tent is the First Ad station.
Could there be a connection?


These racing bicycles haven’t been used for a long time,

neither has there been a village cobbler making shoes for many years,

but the chainsaw wood carver has only just packed up the tools of his trade,
leaving behind a pile of offcuts which disappeared quickly.
Firewood, anyone?

The general consensus was that
 Carnival was very lucky with the weather this year.
It was a day of glorious sunshine, people came out in great crowds.
Efforts by organisers and an army of volunteer helpers paid off
and healthy profits were made not only by the
Carnival Committee (of course there’s a committee - this is England)
but also local charities.

It’s all tidied away now until next year.


22 comments:

  1. That old castle is intriguing and makes me wonder about its history. I would have taken some of that wood, too. :-)

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  2. I'd have had 1st dibs on the wood for sure. Love me a village fair. Anytime.
    XO
    WWW

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  3. Where would we be without committees?

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  4. Beer tent and first aid tent must be connected. Nurse: The first person you see after drinking beer and yelling, 'hey mates, watch me do this'. Village fairs must be great fun, especially for children.

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  5. How I would have loved to have been there...
    Smiling at Andrew's very true comment too..

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  6. Wish I would have been there in order to explore, friend Friko ... Love, cat.

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  7. Hi Friko - brilliant ... and what joy to have a warm, sunny day - it certainly draws the crowds. Where would we be without volunteers, helpers, people prepared to turn out and put on shows, run the rides for the kids etc ... love the meadow ... the "Bloody Red Tent" stands out! Delighted to see the village had a great turnout and fun time ... cheers Hilary

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  8. Days of decent weather make all the difference. Glad Mother Nature cooperated this year. Looks like a lovely setting for it, too. :)

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  9. That old castle is beautiful and what a great place to have a village fair.

    Thanks for sharing ~ FlowerLady

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  10. I think I would like this carnival. It looks the right size. Big enough to have things to see but not too big. I'm not big on too big! The shoes fascinate me!

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  11. Sounds delightful to me, Friko. I enjoy this types of fairs. Until next year . . .

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  12. Friko, it's grand that the weather contributed to the pleasures of the carnival. I think I would have loved it and congratulate all who helped to make it happen...and helped to clean up afterwards.

    Does it take place around mid-August every year? xo

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  13. and what did you enter for judging Friko?

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  14. It sounds (and looks) to me like a cross between one of our county fairs and a church social. I've not thought for years about the "box lunches" that they used to sell. They'd be in shoeboxes, all decorated up. Inside was a sandwich, an apple or some kind of fruit, carrot and celery sticks, and homemade cookies or brownies. Or some variation of that. It somehow was thrilling to get lunch in a shoebox, never knowing what would be inside -- unless, of course, you'd been around long enough to know that Miss Ethel always decorated with blue and green ribbons, and if you could snag one of hers, you got three chocolate chip cookies.

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  15. Sounds like great fun - until clean up time. Such a pretty setting for the carnival.

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  16. In my voracious reading of English novels, I've vicariously attended many a village fete -- but never in person. It sounds fun.

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  17. I used to like village fetes...I even won a pig (live( once...

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  18. I always like to see a view of that castle in your posts.
    It's the time of year for carnivals and fairs - we have them here too, in city and out in the country. We try to get to a couple and I always head for the tables showing needlework. There's always a lot to admire. I'm glad you all had a good time.
    Just recalled - once narrowly escaped being given a donkey as a gift at a fair. The Great Dane knew I liked donkeys and had made arrangements. Yikes!

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  19. It is like something out of Midsomer Murders - or, rather, Midsomer Murders uses the typical English village fête (or carnival or show or whatever you want to name it). I've not been to one yet, but would definitely go if I lived in a village and they had one.
    Nice to know good money was made for charity.

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  20. English villages do this so well . I hope you bought some jam

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  21. Your castle is endlessly photogenic, isn't it? I love the racing bikes, particularly. How good that the weather was with you, too.

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