Crowds go Wild! (From Western Telegraph)

Crowds go Wild!

The heat was on in sunny Narberth on Saturday, as the town's magnificent carnival sizzled into action in a blaze of colour and fun. A procession so long that its front met its tail, featured groups of fancy-dressed entrants and nearly 30 vehicles, including 18 floats.

No-one was more delighted at the spectacle than Narberth Civic Week chairman, Councillor Wynne Evans, who has decided to take a back seat after being involved in more than 20 carnivals.

"The parade was a truly wonderful sight, and I think Narberth can justify its claim that we put on the best carnival in the whole of Wales," he said proudly. "It was the icing on the cake for an outstanding Civic Week."

A Wild West theme featured in the morning's street fair which led up to the carnival, enhanced by the Civil War encampment on the Town Moor.

And the cowboys and Indians theme inspired several of the floats in the afternoon's parade, which was headed by a posse of Western riders and horses from Llawhaden's Sycamores Ranch.

Otherwise, the fancy dress theme was very much 'anything goes', and imagination ran riot with nursery rhyme, fairy-tale, sporting and Disney characters and even a cops and robbers tableau with get-away steam train. Outstanding among the walkers was the superb bristly Mabinogion boar with his horses and dogs created by local youngsters in SPAN workshops and the riot of colourful Peter Pan characters from the adults and kids of Circus Malarkey.

Pretty floats carried carnival queen Shaylee Bradshaw, rose queen Grace Garside, and fairy queen Mollie Griffiths, while Civic Week president Wyn Calvin rode in style in an open-topped vintage car.

Music was provided by the Swansea ATC band and the Clase Silver Crystals jazz band.

RESULTS

Best overall float: Old Woman in a Shoe (Sunnybank Residential Home). Large float: Walt Disney USA (Milford Haven Carnival Crew). Small float: Summer Holiday (Narberth and Whitland Rotary Club). Pub/club float: Queens Hall/SPAN. Car and trailer: Blazing Paddles (New Inn, Amroth). Village: England's Sporting Failures (Ridgeway Nursing Home, Llawhaden). Special achievement: Nursery Rhymes (Templeton YFC). Chairman's prize: Healthy Heart (Narberth Health Centre). Pram/cycle: Blodwen (Dennis Mason). Horse and rider: Nick Evans, Sycamores Ranch. Child four and under: Bill and Ben (Hedd and Caleb Nicholas). Five and six: Minnie Mouse (Alanna Hayes). Seven and eight: Red Indian (Kelsey Rees) Nine and ten: Teapot (Jessica Clarke). 11 and 12: 118, 118 (Sarah Jenkins and Ffion Wilding) 13-15: Turkish Delight (Natalie Ralley). Best child overall 7-12: Minnie Mouse (Alanna Hayes). Children's group: Scarecrows' Day Out (Kathryn Moore and friends). Mixed age group: Wizard of Oz (Walters pals). Adult male: Chimney sweep (Paul Jones). Adult female: Colin from the Co-op (Grace Hart) Adult group: Wizard of Oz (Walters pals) Couple or pair: 118, 118 (Sarah Jenkins and Ffion Wilding). Over 55 years: Captain Hook (Robert Goodridge). Best overall walker: Captain Hook (Robert Goodridge). Outstanding achievement: Mabinogion (SPAN). Shop window: Dickman's. Staff fancy dress: Costcutter.