           
Waltham Forest Carnival Association, working with local Charities ! |
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Walthamstow Carnival as it was first known was originally started pre 1939 although it was put on hold during the war years and re-emerged as an annual event in 1947. In those times we would have a carnival week with many fun events leading up to the carnival on the Saturday and the Wood Street walk on the Sunday. All the local shops and businesses got involved in some way and for the children of the area it was a great time. There was also a carnival fete held in the field adjacent to the George Monoux College, which was very extensive, and a great day out attended by many including the Carnival Court and the Mayor of the day. Most years someone famous opened the fete, which brought great excitement to the borough. With the merging of the boroughs and the arrival of Waltham Forest we are now the only carnival in the area representing the "charitable" face of Waltham Forest nationally all the year round, although other parts of the borough still have their own smaller events. It would be great to be in the position to have a Carnival Week ounce again and get many more people involved. Although most people think that Waltham Forest Carnival consists only of the once a year Street Parade which, always takes place every year on the first Saturday of June, this is not the case. Waltham Forest Carnival and the elected Carnival Court spend the whole year representing the London Borough Of Waltham Forest, by visiting and taking part in other Carnival's Parades and fundraising events. These other Carnival's are based throughout the length and breadth of Main Land Briton. In the year 2004 Waltham Forest Carnival and the Carnival Court made nearly 40 visits to various other Carnival's ranging from Corby in one direction to Dover in the other. Although we have always been known as Waltham Forest Carnival and before that Walthamstow Carnival we are not Waltham Forest Council funded and we as a committee of ordinary folk work all year round to organise and raise the funds to ensure Carnival takes place. This is one of the hardest jobs any of us have undertaken and we ask local businesses to back us in any way, no matter how small, they can. We are only able to stage Carnival with the donations of the local traders. If.every business could assist by donating as little as £10.00 each this would go a long way to ensuring Carnival’s success and in return your business would be mentioned in our Carnival programme which is professionally printed by a local company with 4000 being distributed throughout the borough.
The aim of the Carnival committee is to raise the finance to fund the selection of the Carnival Queen and her attendants which is carried out by a team of judges on the selection night to which many other Carnival courts are invited. The nightis a social event as well and is concluded with a Disco, which everyone enjoys. Our second aim is to stage the Carnival, which entails a lot of organisation, ensuring all the finer details such as insurance, policing, traffic control, first aid and crowd control are in place. We have to try to get as many organisations as possible to take part in the parade collecting donations on route and laughing and joking with the public. This is a fun day but we also need to collect as much money as possible as every penny collected is divided up for local charities. A lot of the charities rely on the monies we can pass their way as it boosts their funding to help the local community. There are cups shields and certificates to be won by participating entries which all add to the fun. The carnival is followed by a dance. During the Queens year in office with her attendants she will need to attend many functions around the country and all the events will be raising money for various charities. For all these events the girls have to wear dresses suitable to their role, be chaperoned by the Carnival Court Manager and have suitable transport for the occasion. The Carnival committee has to raise funding through sponsorship and donations to cover all this expense. We also have to organise prizes for the new queen and attendants as well as raffle prizes to help raise funds. We have many overheads as you can see and only so many ways of raising money but we feel this is worthwhile because it helps so many local charities which at the end of the day is what our main aim is.It is also a very good community orientated event, which brings many people together for a fun day. We produce a Carnival program containing advertising from local business, which we distribute for donations for two weeks before the Carnival, and on the day.
We need loads of help from local business in any way they feel they can either through: Sponsorship, Donations, Advertising, Prizes for raffles that we organise, Entering the Carnival Parade and taking part. Please help us make this event even bigger and better this year by taking part in one of the above and we feel sure you will get a great sense of satisfaction knowing you have done so much for local charity. Without local business this marvellous community day would not take place as it is your support that makes it all work. If you feel that entering the Carnival Parade is for you please let us know. You do not have to use an elaborate float, some groups use a car decorated or just don fancy dress and walk the route. Sponsors could be given advertising space on the Carnival Court float or towihg car, but please ring one of us to discuss this. Please also ring regarding advertising in the program or to arrange the collection of any prizes we can use as gifts for the new Carnival Queen and Princesses or any raffle prizes, Donations should be sent direct to our fundraiser at the contact address, which can be found by clicking (HERE) All cheques should be payable to: "Waltham Forest Carnival Association". Please remember any help in any way is helping us to help local charities so please support our efforts. Our Carnival court works very hard and has a hectic life as most of the events they attend entail lots of walking and collecting money for charity. The carnival court are very committed workers, the Queen, Princesses and Deputies have to be admired for all the work they do and their willingness to give up most of their Saturdays to work for charities in some way.
1. Connaught Stroke Club, 2. William Morris School, 3. Parkinsons Society, 4. Waltham Forest Shopmobility, 5. St John’s Ambulance CN63, 6. St John’s Ambulance 429, 7. St Vincent De Paul Society, 8. Volunteer Reading Help, 9. Waltham Forest Dolphins Swimming Club for the Disabled, 10. Waltham Forest Mencap, 11. Waltham Forest Physically Handicapped Club,12. Waltham forest Centre for the Blind
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