After a decidedly dodgy start to the day, the weather was kind and brightened up for the residents and visitors to last weekends Farnham Carnival.
Farnham Lions have been organising the carnival for over 35 years and in 2000 combined forces with The Hedgehogs, enabling them to greatly expand the event. Along with the community spirit of Farnham's residents, schools, youth clubs, charities and businesses, the 2012 Farnham Carnival was certainly the place to be.
The afternoon festivities began at Gostrey Meadow and the crowds turned out to enjoy family fun including live entertainment, side stalls, lively music, a bar area and plenty of food outlets to keep every one going.
Then what we were all waiting for - an evening procession of colourful, creative floats and displays to admire and entertain. This year's theme was 'Be A Sport' complimenting nicely the Olympics and there was certainly no shortage of creative ideas or inspiration from the participants. In fact, entrants using their ingenuity with recycled products proved to be the winners! After much deliberation the judges decided that the two main winners of the carnival procession were Folly Oak Donkeys 'Ascot Race Day' and St Andrews C.E Infant School 'Bee a Sport- Re-cycle' .
The overall best entry in the procession were the Folly Oak Donkeys with their 'Ascot Race Day' earning them a Best in Show Certificate and the Best in Show Shield for the year. The privately owned donkeys are entered on behalf of the Donkey Breed Society and John and Rosemary Porter of Folly Patterns Ltd, based in Dogflud Way, Farnham have worked closely with the society for many years. Their participation in the Farnham Carnival has been a family project, for the past 20 years. Each year Rosemary, John, their 5 children and 9 grandchildren all come together with recycled materials, sewing machines and their much loved donkeys to create a stunning display ' which has certainly paid off for 2012.
If you want to find out more about the Folly Oak donkeys and the Donkey Breed Society, they will be paying a visit to the Rural centre on September 9th. Meet them in person, chat to the owners and watch them demonstrate how they have served mankind throughout history.
Way back in February, a dedicated team of parents and teachers from St Andrews C.E Infant School started planning for their entry in the Farnham Carnival and they are delighted that their efforts have paid off, winning the overall best entry from a school and receiving the Henry Liu Trophy. Having close links with the Farnham charity bike ride, which complimented the carnival's sporting theme, they came up with the idea of Cycling/Recycling for their entry. Everything from a huge bicycle to the children's costumes was created from recycled materials including old wheels and tyres, baked bean cans, piping and carrier bags. 102 children from the school walked in the procession alongside their gigantic bicycle creation (of course accompanied by lots of adults!) singing to the tune of 'I'd like to teach the world to sing', re-worded with their own cycling and recycling version. Their trophy now has pride of place in school until they take up the challenge for the title again next year!
The bicycle construction is currently stored at the school premises but they are hoping that they can find a suitable location, where it can be proudly displayed, supporting the London 2012 Olympic theme.
Thebestof Farnham hosted a stand in Gostrey Meadow providing information and offers about the best local businesses in town. We would like to thank the many visitors who stopped to give testimonials about their favourite businesses. The lucky winner of the testimonial draw was Dilys Twiggs, who receives a bottle of champagne ' read her winning testimonial.
It has been 2 years now since it was decided to move the show from Castle Street to Gostrey Meadow ' Was it the right move? Which venue do you prefer?
