Playtime - Carnivals

Elderly residents remember the first Carnival after the war being held in the field east of Whimsey Cottage in 1946 and organised by Fred Trevett, a Broadmayne farmer. Although there may have been others following, the tradition of Carnival was next rejuvenated in 1960 by a committee centred on Christophers, Agricultural Engineers, whose main establishment was opposite St Martin’s Church in Main Street. Their manager, Tony Wheller, chaired the group comprising Kim Gill, an accountant living at Longfield, Fred Cross, foreman at Christophers and living next to the premises, Philip Wake, headmaster living next door to Broadmayne School, Les Austen, a Dorchester confectioner living in Knighton Lane, Tom Drake, a carpenter living opposite the village shop and Dennis Morris, a teacher. With a fresh influx of workers in County Hall, Winfrith Atomic Energy Establishment and the Naval Research Establishment on Portland etc., house-building development had proceeded in Martel Close, Conway Drive and Rectory Close in particular, so the time was ripe for fresh village activity.

The school field – now mainly occupied by development at Oakwood – housed all the carnival stalls and entertainments with a central arena for marching band displays by the Junior Leaders Regimental Band from Bovington. Also, of international repute, were the stars from Weymouth Pavilion, Hattie Jaques and Charlie Drake to open the show. In 1962 the venue was moved to Eddie Swaffield’s field beyond his house in Rectory Road, where Littlemead now lies, and this became known as the Carnival Field for several years to come.

Various folk took on the task of organising these later carnivals, procuring marquees, arranging stalls, bands and sideshows and also inviting celebrities like Mike and Bernie Winters in 1962 when Susan Wake was our Queen; Sally Barnes with Dusty Springfield in 1963 when Mrs V Styrch was our Queen and Maureen Cross her attendant. Jimmy Jewel and Ben Warris rode in an open Austin 7 in 1994 when Joan Cross was our Queen and the Army provided a display of artillery fire, much to the dismay of the surrounding residents . On another occasion the Marquis Club provided a display of model aircraft flying, with tethered jet planes circling round at 100 mph in the arena. The advent of girl majorette bands, twirling their batons, produced one procession with no less than eight bands and sixteen floats, which processed around the village from West Knighton, up Main Street, along Conway Drive and Rectory Road to the field. We were always lucky with the weather and attracted regular crowds of over 1,000 to our Summer Saturday Spectacular to raise funds for the village.

The biggest effort however was in 1984, when a full year of fund-raising events to raise money to build our new village hall terminated with a week of events each day. Two marquees were erected on the present playing field to house a bar and a hall for dancing, with a different band each night, and a central arena allowed sports events and other activities during the day. On that Saturday we entertained Sarah Kennedy, a television personality, to open the Carnival and ride with the procession around the village. Our Queen that day was Jo Lancaster, with Carolyn Gilbert and Dionne Brown as attendants; over 1,500 people attended. On a fine afternoon, the 27 stalls and sideshows did a roaring trade and involved the school, the farms, the church, the pub and all village organisations to raise the grand sum of £1,000.

By 1985 the major funds had already been raised for the new village hall and so a less concentrated effort was applied to the Carnival, but even so, the procession attracted seven other local Carnival Queens, seven marching bands and 27 floats with over 100 children to parade around the village streets to the opening by the Mayor of Dorchester. There were three days of events on the village playing field and a further £1,400 resulted. The 1987 Carnival involved a team of 82 residents in preparing all the various stalls, floats and amusements and the procession was led with gusto by the world champion Town Crier, Mike Andrews, ably supported by our Queen, Katrina Sandercock. Fred Bentley’s tombola dispensed over 100 prizes and Madeleane Nock’s cake stall also did remarkably well. There are many photographs within the village of all these events.

The regular members of the organising committee were Mr & Mrs Lush, Mr & Mrs Nock, Mr & Mrs Salt, Mrs P Buxton and Mr K Edwards. Since then, there have been several field events and activities but the Carnival, with a procession of floats around the village, has not been revived to date.

Ken Salt