Ref. 10893/04ONE of the best carnival processions seen in Marlborough for many years brought to a climax a superlative week of sell-out events.

It is estimated that as many as ten thousand spectators packed into the High Street on Sunday afternoon to watch the parade.

The procession took more than an hour to pass and was a riot of colour thanks to costume workshops held in the town and also in Devizes.

The party mood for the parade was helped by the bands and dancing groups whose music was non stop as long as the procession lasted.

There were fewer vehicle-mounted floats than in some previous years but that was more than made up for by the increase in numbers and quality of walking entries.

Bands playing in the High Street in advance of the procession included the strident Gugge band from Bournemouth and the near-deafening Ruff Diamond Explosion Masquerade Band from London, which plays at the Notting Hill festivals.

Chairman Rob Dickens and his carnival committee planned a host of events in the town centre to amuse and entertain people in the lead up to the procession on Sunday.

All day there had been stalls and displays in the High Street with clowns, the Just For Fun Line Dancing Club, magicians, jugglers, puppet displays and face painting.

Meanwhile on The Common where the procession later assembled there were fairground rides for children, a Scruffs dog show, quad bike and mini Land Rover rides and pony rides.

The day had started at 8am with a car boot sale along the sides of the High Street with a craft fair in the Town Hall also held on Saturday and craft and charity stalls down the centre of the street.

This year the carnival committee revived a tradition from the Fifties carnivals and held a tea party for about 500 children after the procession was over.

Crowds lined the High Street, ten deep in places, on both sides and in the middle of the road for the whole length of the town centre although there were fewer people stood along the procession route in Kingsbury Street than in some previous years.

Mr Dickens said the general comment from spectators was that it had been the best carnival procession the town had seen for years.

Mr Dickens has been carnival chairman for two years, his wife Angela has been secretary and their two children Kevin and Lorna have served on the committee.

The family has decided to stand down from the committee after years of service and Mr Dickens said: "It was nice to go out on such a high note."

The subjects of the floats ranged from the traditional entries like Around the World in 80 Days (Stonebridge Close families) and Joseph and his Technicolor Dreamcoat (St Mary's Church young people and Brownies) to Batman (the Alley-Pats) and a Merry Christmas Down Under (Thorney Road residents, Wroughton).

The Purton family from Marlborough always enters a float on a topical or traditional theme and this year their subject was the GWR steam railway, with a lifelike representation of the old Marlborough "donkey" that steamed through the town on its way between Swindon and Andover.

On the Stonebridge Close float was little Holly Pratt, 18 months, who was taking part in her first carnival accompanied by her mum Zoe Davis, 28, was who only six weeks old when she took part in the first procession in 1975 after the event was revived. Zoe was carnival princess in 1982.

Former Marlborough resident, Jason Perrett, who now lives in Newbury, joined in the procession as a passenger in a former Hampshire fire engine that he owns.

Mr Perrett, who is blind, achieved a lifetime's ambition when he bought the redundant fire engine.

The walking entries covered a multitude of themes, from the town's 2004 celebrations next year (Laura Clarkson-Cowles, Kadi Campbell and Lucy Bush), to the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Alice Rolfe and Jessica and Ryan Dent).

Carnival Queen Sadie Farrell travelled in an open-top Jaguar and was followed by a float carrying her attendants Tanya Moger and Lorna Dickens with carnival princess Laura Ash and butterfly queen Jessica Mallison.