THE NEWLY appointed chairman of the Pewsey Carnival committee is assuring people that the show will go on this year after rumours of the carnival’s cancellation.

Nick Wood, 48, of New Severalls in Milton Lilbourne, says that people needn’t worry over the status of this year’s Pewsey Carnival.

After taking up the role of chairman last Monday, Mr Wood heard at the meeting how people had been saying that the popular date in the village’s calendar was no longer on, but Mr Wood was quick to say otherwise.

“During the course of our meeting it was mentioned that some people have, wrongly, assumed that Pewsey Carnival will not take place this year. We presume that this is because we cannot afford to make our usual donations after last year's festivities.

“It is all a misunderstanding. The carnival is taking place this year. We have reserves and charity does begin at home. We have had to spend over £3,000 for the clean-up which has made a dent in the funds. There has been an economic downturn and nothing can be done about it. All the events will be taking place but we have moved the four-legged event to the Saturday before the procession,” said Mr Wood.

The events that take place in the run-up to the procession, such as the wheelbarrow event and the four-legged event, cost the same amount of money regardless of the number of participants.

“If you don’t get many people taking part in the events it will still cost the same. Whether it is 30 or 300 it will still end up costing £3,000. This is one of the reasons why the four-legged event has changed to the Saturday, in hopes more people will take part,” added Mr Wood.

Although this year the carnival will be unable to donate so much from the proceeds to charity, the committee is adamant that the show will continue.

“The show must go on, the carnival itself dates back to 1898 and the feast goes back to King Alfred. We can’t let it fail, reserves have to be kept so we can continue to run the carnival for the next couple of years,” Mr Wood continued.

The four-legged event is now set to take place on September 10 with the wheelbarrow event following on September 15, leading to the illuminated procession taking place on September 17.