Family Day Out at… Lewes Carnival

It’s carnival time. Lewes Carnival springs back to life this weekend twenty years after the Rotary Club of Lewes Castle lasted staged the event. Back in 1986, the World Cup was in Mexico and Doctor & the Medics were at the top of the charts. So twenty years on, with the football in Germany and Nelly Furtado at the top of the charts, what changes can we expect to see at a 21st century carnival? Well, from the look at the programme, I think it’s going to be reassuringly similar for anyone who remembers the 1980’s – or perhaps even the 1970’s.

Events kick off at 2pm with a parade of the various carnival floats, featuring two carnival princesses no less, down the High St from County Hall to Malling Fields. The Carnival showground will then be officially opened by the mayor, before the afternoon’s entertainment takes place. Highlights to look out for are the brass band performance, some traditional morris dancing and some less traditional ‘shimmy and shake’ from the belly dancers. There will also be the visiting William Cole fairground to keep everyone amused. Personally though, I’m looking to the display by East Sussex Fire & Rescue. In a show, designed I guess to demonstrate the multi-tasking abilities of today’s fire service, we are told that they will be both cutting people out of cars and demonstrating what to do with a chip pan fire. Now that’s entertainment… NW