Ilkeston - Lions Club
Carnival 2009
w/e 14 June 2009
All this week's pictures were taken
with a Kodak DX6490
The Ilkeston Lions Club is a registered charity raising
funds for people in need. Many local organisations have received
donations from the Club and this year the main beneficiaries
of the Annual Carnival will be the Air Ambulance and Ilkeston
School's Multi Media Gallery Appeal.
The street parade was led by the Long Eaton Militaires who paused outside
the Town Hall to allow the Majorettes to put on a display. The
youth of today often get a bad press and the work of organisations
such as this often goes unnoticed so it was good to see the Militaires
get a very good reception.
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Fifteen year old Laura Hunt was recently crowned the new Carnival
Queen and followed the Militaires in an open-top car waving to
the assembled crowds as she passed. Laura is reported as saying
that she had wanted to be the Carnival Queen since she was a
little girl adding: "I'm so excited - the first thing I'm
going to do is break it to my grandma - she'll be so happy for
me."
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The parade was augmented by a number of classic vehicles that
included an old Barton's Transport luxury coach, an Ind Coope
lorry and even Dr Who's car complete with Dalek and Tardis. No
doubt the esteemed Time Lord was well impressed with the gleaming
bodywork on all the vehicles.
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The carnival was advertised as having a dozen floats and I counted
at least seven or eight lorries representing different organisations
plus other vehicles, trailers and walking groups so the bystanders
were not short changed. In recent years we have been lucky to
see half this amount so the Lions Club deserve a huge amount
of credit for all the work they have put in to make this year's
carnival a success.
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The parade ended on the Rutland Recreation Ground where the line
of floats stopped to allow all the participants to disembark
and join in with the rest of the activities that had been organised.
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The showers that had been forecast failed to materialise over
Ilkeston and the population heeded the local newspaper's headline
to get out and "Support The Carnival" as thousands
of people turned up on the Rec. If the Carnival had been held
seven days earlier then it could have been a complete washout
as rain fell for almost all of the previous weekend. Prayers
had obviously been answered in the best way possible.
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In the main arena there were displays all afternoon by marching
bands, the Pop Divas Dance Troupe (another local organisation
working with the young) a gymnastics group and the Hucknall Flyball
Dogs (pictured).
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And all around the Rec were various charity stalls, a fun fair
and other attractions. The Army turned up with their climbing
tower; in addition to the classic cars there was also a display
of motor cycles and this Golden Eagle was just one of a number
of birds of prey on display.
People of my generation and older may well remember the carnivals
of the post war years and earlier when events took place every
night of the week and there were huge numbers of floats and bands.
The 2009 Carnival did not reach those heights but it has to be
said that this is the best carnival both in terms of the parade,
the activities and the attendance figures for many a long year.
Well done the Lions Club!
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